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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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PAUL REVERE. 



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HISTORY 



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OF THE 



UNITED STATES 



IN WORDS OF ONE SYLLABLE 



BY 



MRS. HELEN W. PIERSON 



WITH FORTY-SEVEN ILLUSTRATIONS. 



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AN ARMORED LOOK-OUT 




NEW YORK 
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS 

9 Lafayette Place 



Copyright, 1883. 
By Joseph L. Blamire. 



,3' 



PREFATORY. 



In this "Child's History of the United States," 
it has been the aim to use words of only one sylla- 
ble. But it will be seen that, in a historical work, 
names must be given of famous men, of great bat- 
tles, and of some important measures. It is thought 
that parents or teachers can soon familiarize young 
people with these names, so that they will read them 
as readily as the rest. Titles have been sometimes 
omitted, and some names which deserve a place and 
have it in larger histories, are not found here. All 
such omissions have been made from the fear of 
rendering the task of reading the book too difficult 
for many, who, as they grow older, can add to the 
list that fame has made illustrious, and take wider 

views of the history of this land. 

H. W. P. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

How THIS Land was Found 9 

CHAPTER H. 
The New World 16 

CHAPTER HI. 
The Red Men 26 

CHAPTER IV. 
The War that Made us Free 46 

CHAPTER V. 
Three Great Fights 53 

CHAPTER VI. 
First in War — First in Peace ... 61 



8 Contc7its. 

CHAPTER VII. ^ 



PAGE 



The Rest of the War 69 

CHAPTER VIII. 
In Times of Peace , 82 

CHAPTER IX. 
New Men and New Laws , . 95 

CHAPTER X. 
The Slave Trade. , 107 

CHAPTER XI. 
A New War... 120 

CHAPTER XII. 
The War of North and South. . . 126 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Peace Once More 145 



History of tlie United States. 



CHAPTER I. 



HOW THIS LAND WAS FOUND. 

For a long time, in past years, it was not known 
that the world was round. If the men in those days 




IN-DI-ANS HUNTING IN THE SNOW. 



had been told that a ship could start from a port 
and sail straight on for months and come round to 



lo History of the United States. 

the same place, it would have made them laugh as 
at a good joke. They did not know the real shape 
of the earth, but thought it was a flat plane. 

In those days our land was the home of the In- 
di-ans, or red men, as we call them, from their dark 
skins. The red man does not live in a house, but 
in a sort of tent or hut. The tribes of red men had 
all this land for their own when Co-lum-bus was born. 
The great woods, the green plains, the bright streams, 
were all theirs. They made their wars in a strange 
and fierce style, and wore at their belts locks of hair, 
cut from the heads of those slain by their hands. 
These locks, cut from the head with part of the skin, 
they call a scalp. It was the pride of an In-di-an to 
have scalps hung at his belt. No one had taught 
him that this was wrong, and he did not have the 
Word of God to show him the right way. 

When Co-lum-bus was a mere boy he was fond of 
the sea and ships. He would go and watch the 
waves, and think about how ships were made, and 
the best way to sail them. He was born in Gen-oa, 
which IS by the blue sea ; so when he was a small boy 
he could watch the white sails come in. Such queer 
ships they had there, with strange high prows ! As 
time went on, and he grew of age, he made trips in 
these ships, and was in sea-fights, and once or 
twice he was in a wreck. So you see he had a 



12 History of the United States. 

chance to grow strong and brave for the work he 
had to do. • 

What he read in books taught him that the world 
was round, and not flat, as was thought in those 
times. So he knew that if he could sail west he 
would come to a new land. He thought of this a 
long time, and at last he grew more sure of it, but 
he could get no one else to think as he did. He 
spent ten years in this way. He was full of plans; 
but he could get no help and no gold. He was too 
poor to do all with no aid from his friends. At last 
he went to Spain. 

There were a King and Queen there who were 
kind to Co-lum-bus ; but at first they would not give 
their gold to help him. They thought this was a 
wild dream. At last, with a sad heart, he made up 
his mind to turn his back on the court of Spain. 

While on his way, a man came to him from 
Queen Is-a-bel-la. She had sent him word that she 
would help him ; "that she would pledge her own 
gems to give him aid." But she did not have to 
do this, as means were found when Co-lum-bus 
went back to the court. His heart was made glad ; 
for they gave him a small fleet of three ships, and 
on the 3d of August, 1492, the sun rose on the 
fleet as it went forth on its way to the new land. 
All was strange to the new crew, and they had all 



How this Land was Found. 13 

sorts of queer thoughts and fears of the sea. They 
had not been out of sight of land in all their lives ; 
and when they saw the deep, dark sea on all sides, they 
were full of fear that they would not see their homes 
again. The trade-wind which took them west so 
fast, would keep them, they thought, from their land 
when they had the wish to go back. At last they 
grew so full of fear, they swore they would not go 
on, and Co-lum-bus had hard work to make them. 
But soon there were signs of land, and some land 
birds flew by the ship ; and one of the crew found a 
branch of a tree on the waves, which had some fresh 
red fruit on it. 

Oh, how glad they were ! Co-lum-bus felt so 
sure that he was near land, he gave word for the 
ships to lie by that night. No man thought of sleep. 
They all kept watch on deck to see this strange 
new coast for which they had borne so much. 

In the night a cry of joy was heard. Co-lum- 
bus had seen a light far off, and a shout of '' Land ! 
land ! " soon came from all sides. 

When the sun rose they all saw a green strip of 
shore some five miles long. The men fell at the 
feet of Co-lum-bus and shed tears of joy. Then 
they sang a hymn of praise to God, who had kept 
them and brought them safe and sound to this new 
place. They got out the small boats and put men 



14 History of the United States. 

and arms in them, with flags, and a band to play a 
march of joy, and the crews made their way to the 
shore. Co-lum-bus, in a rich dress with his drawn 
sword in his hand, sprang on the beach, and then 
the crew came next. They set up a cross, and all 
knelt at its foot and gave thanks for their safe trip. 
Then Co-lum-bus set up the flag of Cas-tile and 
Le-on, and took the new land for the crown of 
Spain. 

While they stood there with shouts of joy and 
songs, some strange dark shapes stole up with soft 
steps to their side. The crew thought these men 
must have come from a new world, as they saw their 
dark skins and the gay paint and plumes they wore. 
Co-lum-bus gave them the name of In-di-ans, for he 
thought the new coast was part of In-dia. He did 
not know that he had found a new land. These 
men with red skins were glad to kiss the feet of the 
Span-iards, and change their gold chains and rude 
rings for the beads and pins the crew gave to them. 

Co-lum-bus spent some time in the new land he 
had found, and then he set sail for home to take his 
friends and the Queen the great news. A wild 
storm came on the way home, and Co-lum-bus 
thought that all was lost, so he wrote his tale on a 
cake of wax and put the cake in a cask and threw 
it in the sea; so that if he had gone down in the 



How tins Land was Found. 15 

storm, all that he had found would not be lost to the 
world. 

But God took care of Co-lum-bus and his crew. 
They got back to their homes once more and had a 
grand time. The King and Queen gave them a 
new and fine fleet ; and in time they came back and 
saw new points of land on which to build homes, 
and they found, too. South A-mer-i-ca. 

There were some in Spain who did not like Co- 
lum-bus, for he had won gold and fame, while they 
had none. So they told false tales of him ; and when 
his friend, Queen Is-a-bel-la, died, he was once 
brought back from the land he had found in chains. 
How sad that was ! — was it not ? At last he had to 
die old and poor, and this land did not have his 
name. It had no name for some time; but at last 
an I-tal-ian, who made a few trips there, and wrote 
of what he saw, gave his name to the new world. 
His name was A-mer-i-cus Ves-pu-ci-us. That is a 
hard name for you to say, but you can all say A-mer- 
i-ca, and that is the name of our land. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE NEW WORLD. 



When the news of this land of gold spread over 
the world, Eng-land and France and Spain all sent 
ships to see what they could find. They each 
thought they would like to have a slice. The 
Eng-lish thought they had some rights, as one of 
their men, named Ca-bot, had, in truth, been the first 
to touch this new shore. The next time he came, 
he made his way down the coast to what we call 
Vir-gin-ia, and set up a claim for Eng-land. 

Then the King of France sent a man to plant 
his flag here, and he gave the name of New France 
to part of our coast. But though Eng-land and 
France both set claim to the land, they did not 
send men here to live for a long time. 

At last Queen E-liz-a-beth gave one of the great 
men at court, called Sir Wal-ter Ral-eigh, a claim 
to a large tract of land in A-mer-i-ca. He came 
with two ships, and found the red skins kind. They 
brought him gifts, and he went back to tell of all 
the strange things he had seen, and some came to 
live on the new shores. But the red skins were 



The New World. 17 

hard to live with, and the small group of white men 
could get no food, and were near death, when a 
brave man, named Sir Fran-cis Drake, came with 
a ship and took them off to their homes. The next 
band that came met a sad fate, for they all fell by 
the hand of the red men. 

There were some in Eng-land who had a great 
wish to see this new world. They thought they 
would like to live in a land with no King, and have 
a church where they could pray to God in their own 
way. They were called " Pil-grims," for they went 
from place to place and would sing psalms and pray, 
and they were full of joy at the thought of their 
new home. 

Do you know the name of the ship they came 
in ? It is a sweet name, and you must keep it in 
your mind^ — The May-flow-er. They did not have 
a smooth trip, and a storm blew them on to the 
coast of Mass-a-chu-setts. It was bare and cold, but 
it was nice to see land at all. There were all sorts 
of fowl there, and they saw a whale ; but when they 
went to shoot it the gun burst. They made their 
way to a vale where there was a spring, and there 
they took their first drink in the new land. 

There was a rock called Plym-outh Rock, and 
here they made their homes and built the first house. 
It was in 1620, in a cold time of the year, that the 




A 



Seeium 



1 8 History of the U^iited States. 

May-flow-er brought her crew to Plym- 
outh Rock. There was not much 
food, and they had from the first a foe 
whom they could not trust or make a 
friend. These were a new race of men. 
They had brown skins ; were tall and 
straight, with long, coarse black hair. 
They had no books, and got their food 
in the hunt, or caught fish in the streams. 
They made boats of birch bark — queer, 
long things, with a point at each end. 
They could make bows, and would pound 
their corn with two stones for their bread. 
They took the skins of beasts for their 
clothes, for they knew how to dress them. 
Each tribe had its head man, called a 
chief, and their great joy was in war. 
When their foes took them, they would 
not pray for their lives. They were 
brave in their own way, and would show 
no fear at the sight of the fire that was 
to burn their flesh. 

Their wives, the squaws, would dress 
the food and do all the hard work at 
home. They were the ones who dug 
each small patch of orround and put in 

IN-DI-AN FLINT- , . ^ , ^ ^^i i j 

HEADED ARROW. tHc bcaus aud corn. 1 he men haa a 




The New World. ig 

scorn for work. They were made to fight, they 
thought. They would say, "The Great Chief gave 
the white man a plow and the red man a bow, 
and sent them in the world to gain food, each in his 
own way." 

In this new land there was not a horse, cow, 
sheep, cat, dog, or hen to be found. You would 
not like such a place, would you ? What did the 




young people do for pets in those days ? No chicks 
to feed, no puss with her soft, warm fur, for small 
hands to stroke. 

But the new homes were not left in peace. 
The red men saw that their doom was near. They 
felt that they would have to move on and on, to 
give place to these men who knew so much ; who 
read books and had schools, and taught their young 
ones to pray. So they took the guns that they had 
bought from the white men and went to war with 
them. When they took them they would tie them 
fast to stakes, burn them to death, and all the time 
the flames were at work, these fierce red men would 



20 History of the United States. 

dance a war dance of joy. They bought ram from 
the white men, and it made them hke brutes. 

They knew that the white men had come to 
take their land, and that was cause for their hate. 
And so the white men, in their turn, felt no love 
for the red skin, and thought they did well to push 
him back more and more, and take all they could 
from him. The white men were to blame, for they 
first gave the vile rum to the red men, and that 
made them wild. They would burn down the 
white man's house at night, and kill his wife and 
babes. Think how sad it must be to wake up in 
the night and find the hot blaze of a fire in your 
face, and the wild war-whoop of an In-di-an in your 
ears. But you can lie down in your bed in peace, 
for there is no one to harm you — you live in good 
times. 

But those who were brave enough to come and 
live in this new land, had a hard life at first. 
There were no snug farms as now, with fields of 
green corn and wheat. At times the poor men 
could not get much to eat, and one wrote home : 
*'The crumbs that fall from your meals would be 
sweet to me. When I can get a cup of meal and 
boil It with a pinch of salt, I give thanks as for a 
great feast. The In-di-ans at times bring corn and 
trade it for clothes or knives. One day they gave 




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2 2 History of the United States. 

me a peck of corn for a small dog. It would be a 
strange thing to see a piece of roast beef or veal 
here." 

It will not seem strange, then, that, in such hard 
times, death came to these small bands and took 
some away. But those who were left kept up 
brave hearts, and would not go back to their old 
homes ; and though all were so poor, there was not 
a case of theft in four years. They grew to like the 
land, and one said, '' A sup of New Eng-land air is 
worth more than a draught of Old Eng-land ale." 

For one of the first bands of men who came 
here, made their homes in a place to which they 
gave the name of New Eng-land, after their old 
home. As time went on each place grew to be a 
town, and soon had a church and a school of its 
own. If we had gone in one of those towns on 
the Lord's day, we would have seen some strange 
sights. As the clocks struck nine, there would 
come out a man who would beat a drum or blow a 
conch shell, or ring a bell to call all the folks to 
church. As we drew near to this church, we would 
have seen that it was built of logs, with a small flag 
to wave on it. There would be a fence of stakes 
round it, and a man with a gun on guard near 
it. Those who went in left all their guns in 
his care. 



The New Wojdd. 23 

If you look at this church you will see that it 
has no glass panes like ours, but small and dull and 
thick ones set in lead. It is the style now to like 
that old thick glass, and to use it once more. You 
might see on the front of this church, near the door, 
the heads ol wolves that had been slain in the hunt 
in the past year. 

In this church the old men sat on one side, and 
the young men were not with them. They had 
their own place. So, too, the boys did not sit by 
the girls. Most of the boys sat on the stairs, and 
there was a man there as a sort of guard to see that 
they did not talk. He had a long rod or wand in 
his hand, with a hare's foot on one end, and a 
hare's tail on the other. He would let no one go to 
sleep. If he saw a girl nod, he would touch her on 
the face with the soft brush of the hare's tail ; but 
if it were a boy who was caught in a nap, he got a 
sharp rap from the hare's foot. So you see in those 
times one could not make such a snug nest in the 
pew and take a long sleep as one does now ; and 
they had to stay three or four hours in church. It 
must have been hard for small folks not to nod at 
times. 

When they sung, it was out of a book by the 
name of "The Bay Psalm Book," and they did not 
know more than ten tunes. In those days no one 



24 History of the United States, 

could stay from church but for a good cause, or else 
they had to pay a fine. And if a man staid from 
church a month, he was put in the stocks, or in a 
cage of wood, where all could see him and laugh 
and jeer at him. 

You do not know what stocks are in these times, 
but if you had stood in a New Eng-land town then, 
you would have seen a strange thing made of wood, 
by the road near the church. This queer frame 
of wood would hold a man fast so that he could not 
move, and you may think a day in the stocks w^ould 
be hard to bear, and would make one's bones ache. 

A house in such a town, in those days, was all 
built on the ground floor; -so there were no stairs. 
It was made of earth or logs, and had a steep roof 
of thatch. The place for the fire was built of rough 
stones. It was large enough to burn logs four feet 
long, and had so much room in it that a man and 
his wife and boys and girls could sit in it and look 
up at the sky. 

The dress in those days was not the same as it 
is now. The men wore small clothes, which came 
to the knee like a small boy's in these times, and 
they had stiff ruffs round their necks and caps of rich 
stuff on their heads. The young men wore fine 
belts, and great high boots which were made with 
a roll at the top. The girls wore silk hoods in the 



The New World. 25 

streets, and stiff rich gowns, with long waists, and 
lace caps on feast-days. But folks could not wear 
gay clothes if the law did not think they had means 
to spend for such fine things. 

They had some queer laws in those days. 
Those who had done wrong had to stand in the 
stocks, which held them by the feet and neck, so 
they could not get away, or they had to mount 
stools in church. If a man had a wife who had 
the name of a bad scold, a cleft stick was put on 
her tongue, or she was made to take a cold dip in 
a stream. I dare say you think those were hard 
laws, and you are glad to live in these days. But 
that was a race who had the fear of God in their 
hearts ; their aim was to do just right and to rule 
the land in the best way. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE RED MEN AND THEIR WARS. 

At first, before they had time to plant the fields, 
the men could but hunt and fish for food ; but 
as years went by, they had farms, and made glass 
and things for trade ; they wove cloth of wool, and 
some from a plant that grows in the south, of which 
you may know the name. It is white and soft. 

They had not much coin, and so they had to do 
the best they could with skins and corn, or what 
they could get for trade. The first mint to make 
coin was set up in Mass-a-chu-setts in 1652. This 
coin had a pine tree on one side, and the name of 
the State. One side had a date and N. E. for New 
Eng-land. All this coin was known as " pine-tree 
coin." In time the land at Plym-outh Bay and 
those near took one name, " Mass-a-chu-setts." 

In the meanwhile the small band who had made 
homes in Vir-gin-ia had come to grief. They had 
been men of good birth in their own land, and did 
not know much of hard work. They had come in 
search of wealth. Great tales had been told of the 
gold here. It had been said one could pick up 



The Red Men and their Wars. 



27 



great lumps of gold, as large as a hen's egg, in the 
streams. They found that all this was not true, 
and that a man had to work hard to live. They 
grew sick, and death came in their midst to make 
things more sad ; so that they lost more than half 
of their small band. 




JOHN SMITH 



One man, John 
Smith by name, did 
great things for them. 
He had been brave 
from his birth. He 
had been in wars oft, 
and once he built him 



28 History of the United States. 

a lodge of boughs in a forest and took his books 
with him, that he might learn the art of war. 
Once he went to fight the Turks. He is said 
to have been sold as a slave. It may be all these 
tales are not true ; but it is true he taught his 
own friends in Vir-gin-ia how to live. He got them 
to build a fort and log huts for the cold times. He 
made friends as far as he could of the In-di-ans, so 
that he could get boat loads of food from them. 
He said that '' he who would not work might not 
eat ; " so no man could be a drone in the hive. 
Each one must learn to swing the axe in the woods 
or to hunt and to fish. 

Once the In-di-ans took him and they told him 
that he must die. Their great chief Pow-ha-tan had 
said the word ; so his head was laid upon a stone, 
and a huge war club raised to strike the blow. But 
a young girl was seen to spring to his side, throw 
her arms round his neck, and pray that he might 
be set free. She was the pet of the tribe, for she 
was the child of their chief; and so Cap-tain Smith 
was set free. You may be sure he was full of 
thanks to his kind young friend, and it is said she 
might have been seen on her way to James-town 
more than once, as time went on, with small stores 
of corn for the white men. And when she grew up 
a white man made her his wife. 






The Red Men and their Wars. 



29 







But at last a bad wound made Cap-tain Smith 
go back to Eng-land, and things grew worse and 
worse in Vir-gin-ia. Food was more and more 
scarce, and a sad time came, which was long known 
as '* Starving Time." It was in 1609. At last 
they all made up their minds to go back to their 
old home. None shed a tear as 
the sun rose on that day ; they had 
known bad times in the new land, 
and did not grieve to go. But as 
their ship made its way down the 
bay, they met Lord Del-a-ware, 
with a great stock of food, and 
new men to swell the ranks. So 
they were glad to turn back and 
try the place once more ; and in 
the course of time they throve and 
built and spread, and that part of 
the land made a new State, which 
we know as Vir-gin-ia. In that 
State was first grown a weed which you have seen 
men smoke and chew. 

The folks in Mass-a-chu-setts went by the name 
of " Pu-ri-tans." They had left their old home that 
they might pray to God in their own way, and they 
thought that their own way was the right one. 
When men came in their midst who did not think 




TO-BAC-CO PLANT. 



30 History of the Untied States 

as they did, they were sent out of the place. There 
was a class called Quak-ers, or Friends, who were 
mild, and did all they could for peace ; but they 
thought they had their rights as well as the rest, 
and might serve God in their own way. They did 
not believe in wars, and would not bear arms. 
They would not hire a man to preach for them ; 
but when they met, each one spoke as he felt the 
thought come in his heart. They kept the laws, 
and did to all men as they wished them to do to 
them. They said **thee and thou" for "you," and 
** yea and nay" for*' yes and no;" but this could 
hurt no one, and it seems strange to us that they 
were not let stay in the place. They had to fly for 
their lives, and four were put to death. In these 
days all men are free to serve God in their own way. 
And in that time there was one man to raise 
his voice ior the poor Quak-ers, and all who were 
like them. This man was Rog-er Will-iams. He 
held that the State had no right to say what men 
should think and feel. You may be sure those who 
were high in place did not like to hear that ; so he 
had to fly from his home one cold day, and for a time 
he hid in the woods. But the In-di-ans gave him 
a home, and one chief made him a gift of a piece of 
land, which he called '' Prov-i-dence," as it was to 
him like a gift from God. And so the State of 



The Red Men and their Wars. 



31 



Rhode Isl-and, where this town was built, was 
known as a place where thought was free. The 
Ouak-ers were glad to find a home In that State, 
where they could dwell in peace. 




IN-DI-ANS RID-ING. 



In 1675, a war, known as King Phil-ip's war, 
broke out in Mass-a-chu-setts. King Phil-ip was 
an In-di-an chief who saw that the white man 
would soon own all the land, and he knew that 



32 History of the United States. 

meant death to his race. He made a plan to kill 
all the white men. The first blow fell on the 
Lord's day, as the folks were on their way home 
from church. The men flew to arms, and did not 
dare to lay them down when they were in the field 
at work, or at their homes. When they went to 
church they would stack them at the door. 

King Phil-ip and his men made their camp in a 
great swamp, where it was hard for the white men 
to reach them. Here they laid up a store of food, 
and had great tribes of red men. They would not 
fight in the wide fields, but would skulk in nooks, 
and rush out and hold all the land in fear, for the 
foe would seem to be on all sides. At last they 
were made to leave their strong hold, and could 
find no place to hide. There was a fight, and the 
In-di-ans fell thick and fast. Phil-ip ran, but one 
of his own tribe, who had a grudge, shot him dead. 
He had done all he could for his own folk, but fell 
by the hand of one of them at last. 

All this time the King of Eng-land was at the 
head of this land as well, and the men he sent were 
wont to rule things with a high hand. They would 
not grant what our men thought to be their rights. 
Dutch ships had come in to trade for furs with the 
In-di-ans. Some of the crews stayed here and made 
their homes in a place they called New Am-ster- 




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34 



History of the United States. 



dam. It is now known by the name of New York. 
These first Dutch men bought the land from the 
In-di-ans, and it was to go to their heirs through 
all time. 

A band of Swedes made their home in Del-a- 
ware. A Quak-er by the name of Will-iam Penn 




IN-Dl-AN PIPES. 



bought a grant of land from the King. He thought 
to make a home for all his sect, who had as hard 
a time in Eng-land as they did here. He sent a 
band of these men here, and the next year he came 
too. He met the In-di-ans by a great elm tree. 
He was a kind and good man, and would not take 



The Red Men and their Wars. 



35 



their land from them. He bought it and made 
them his friends. '' We will live in love with Wil- 
liam Penn and his heirs," said they, ''as long as 
the sun and moon shall shine." And it is said that 
to this day a red man is loathe to shed Quak-er 
blood. 

In 1683, Penn bought 
land from the Swedes and 
laid out a town, to which he 
rave the name of Phil-a- 
del-phia. It stood in the 
midst of a wood, and the 
wild deer ran by the men 
who came to take a look at 
their new home. When 
Penn came, he sent out a 
call for all the men to meet 
in one place, and there he 
met with them, and they 
laid out the code or kind ^^^"^^^ 
of laws they were to have, ^^^^^—d^i/^ 
This code was known as 
"The Great Law." No one could vote that did 
not believe in Christ ; and all might pray to God in 
their own way. So you see the Quak-ers did not 
wish to force men to believe as they did. They 
felt that was not right or just. 





'36 History of the United States. 

Penn did all he could for his sect, and was mild 
and good to the red men. He said to them, '' We 
meet on the broad path of good faith and good will. 
I will deal with you in love. We are one flesh and 
blood." 

So our land grew, and State by State was laid 
out, and towns were built, and all this time the 
King of Eng-land was at the head of the whole. 
There were more In-di-an wars; for the red men 
gave the new folk no peace. They would come 
down from the depths of the woods of Can-a-da on 
their snow shoes, and drag men and their wives 




IN-DI-AN SNOW SHOE. 



from their beds and scalp them and set their homes 
on fire. Many a child, too, had to fly with the rest 
in the cold night, with bare feet and few clothes on, 
to seek a place to hide from this fierce foe. 

In 1754, a war broke out which we call the 
"French and In-di-an War." The Eng-lish had at 
this time a great strip of land on our coast which 
they held as their own. It was like a string to the 



The Red Men and their Wars. 37 

great bow of French land, which went from Que- 
bec to New Or-leans. Both French and Eng-Hsh 
laid claim to part of the land ; and those who had 
the wish to live in peace could not but look on in 
fear. 

The French built three forts, and that made all 
feel that they meant to hold the land. A young 
man by the name of George Wash-ing-ton, was sent 
to ask that they should pull down these forts. You 
have heard of George Wash-ing-ton, I know. You 
have been told that he was ''first in peace, first in 
war, and first in the hearts of all." You have, I 
am sure, heard the tale of the fruit tree that he cut, 
and how he could not tell a lie to save him. He 
was a bov then, and some one had made his heart 
glad with the gift of a small axe. What should 
a boy do with such a thing, if he could not cut with 
it ? So George went round to try the sharp edge 
of his axe, and, as bad luck would have it, he came 
on a young fruit tree. It may be that the fruit was 
of a rare kind, and so when it was found that the 
bark of the tree had been cut in such a way that 
one could hope for no more fruit, the cry rang out 
on all sides, "Who has done this deed ?" 

Our small boy was not at peace in his own 
mind. He did not know in what shape the wrath 
miorht fall on him ; but he came forth in a brave 



2 8 History of the United States. 

way and said, *' I did it, Father, I can not tell a lie. 
I cut it." We are glad there has been one boy 
who could not tell a lie, and we hope there are some 
in our own times. 

So this George Wash-ing-ton, then a young 
man, was sent to the French man who was at the 
head of the forts, to say that he must take them 
down at once. He had a hard time to get there, 
for it was cold, and the streams were big with 
the rains. The snow fell and froze as it fell. His 
horse gave out, and he had to go on foot. He had 
one man with him, and they struck out in to the 
woods. They had to cross a stream on a rude raft, 
and they were caught in the ice. It bore them on 
with great speed, and when Wash-ing-ton threw out 
his pole to check the speed, he fell in the stream. 
But he knew how to swim, and so he got to land. 
When day came, it grew still more cold, and the 
stream froze in such a way that he could walk on 
it to the place where he would be. 

The men at the French forts would not say that 
they would give them up. In fact, they made boasts 
that they could hold them in spite of all, and so the 
war went on. The French would dart out and 
seize Eng-lish ships, and then the Eng-lish would 
march on the French, and do them all the harm 
they could. Wash-ing-ton fought on the side of the 



The Red Men and theii" Wars. 39 

Eng-lish in this war. Once the In-di-ans laid in 
wait for them in the wood, and as the men were on 
the march with their flags and beat of drum, they 
heard the fierce war whoop on all sides. The Brit- 
ish troops did not know how to deal with such a 
foe ; but our men sprang down and fought them in 
their own way. 

One chief made a vow that he would kill Wash- 
ing-ton. Four balls were sent through his clothes. 
Twice his horse was shot. Gen-er-al Brad-dock, 
who was at the head of the Eng-lish troops, was 
shot and borne from the field to die. There was a 
great fright, and the men fled on all sides. Wash- 
ing-ton did what he could to save them from the 
foe, like a brave man. But the French went on 
and built more forts, and our men were at their 
wits' end to hold their own with foes on all sides. 

There were six tribes of the red men who were 
their friends, and I would tell you their names if 
they were not too long and hard. 

But you will find in the State of New York 
lakes and streams which bear the same names. 
We ought to bear them in mind, as they were of 
great use in those times. So it was thought best 
for all our men to meet in a town by the name of 
Al-ba-ny, to fix on a way to keep these six tribes 
our friends, and to join with them to fight the 



40 Histojy of the United States. 

French. Al-ba-ny was then a small town with few 
. in it ; but it had a stone fort. Here our men met 
the chiefs and had a talk with them. The chiefs 
told our clan they were not so wise and brave as 
the French, or they would build forts like them. 

But there was one wise man in our midst, Ben- 
ja-min Frank-lin. He had been a poor boy, so 
poor that when he went in to the great town of 
Phil-a-del-phia, he had but a few cents. But he 
knew how to print ; and more than that he was 
fond of books, and so could learn all sorts of things. 
He brought with him a small print on which was 
shown a snake cut in parts. Each part had on it 
the name of one of the States. He said they must 
be made one or die, and that to be one was the way 
to be great. But our men did not see their way 
clear to do this yet. We know they made the 
States one in time. 

The death of Gen-er-al Brac^-dock was a great 
blow to their hopes. They saw that all the red- 
coats, as we call the Eng-lish, were not brave ; but 
could run as fast as the rest. Still they took some 
forts, with long names, from the French in this war. 
They made a move on them at Que-bec, with Gen- 
er-al Wolfe at the head of our troops. 

Quebec was one of the strong forts of the world. 
At first Gen-er-al Wolfe lost at all points. But he 



42 History of the United States. 

found at last a way to go in boats. With no noise 
they made their way to land, and up a steep hill, 
and at dawn the French woke to see red-coats on 
all sides. Their Gen-er-al Mont-calm led them 
out of the fort to fight. If he had not, he might 
have won the day, for the fort was strong. But he 
chose to fight in the wide field, and so we won. 

At the time of the -fight, Gen-er-al Wolfe, who 
had been struck by a death shot, heard shouts of 
joy, '' They fly — they fly ! " '' Who fly ! " came from 
his white lips. '' The French." " Then praise God, 
I die at peace," he said, with his last breath. 

Gen-er-al Mont-calm, too, on the French side, 
had a wound, and was told he could not live. " I 
am glad of it," he said, ''for then I shall not live to 
see my town yield to the foe." So you see they 
were two brave men who fell that day. In five 
days a peace was made with France ; for she gave 
up most of the land to which she had laid claim. 

But there were some of the red men who did 
not want this peace with the Eng-lish. They had 
seen the red-coats run away from them, and they 
thought they might now strike a blow for their own 
homes and land. The French made them think 
they would help them. ''The King of France has 
but slept for a time," they said, "but he will soon 
wake up, and then he will drive the foe from the 



43 



The Red Men and their Wars. 

homes of the red men, and give them back their 



brave chief, Pon-ti-ac, who heard 



land. 



)> 



There was one 




IN-DT-AN CHIEF. 



I will live and die a 



all this with a glad heart. "1 will 'i^e^anu ... ^ 
French man," he said, and he sent men to each 



4'- History of the United States. 

town to bear a belt with red or black beads on it, 
and a knife with a red stain on it ; these meant 
war. The knife was of the kind with which they 
were wont to scalp the foe, and the red stain told 
that deeds of blood were at hand. When this 




IRON TOM-A-HAWK. 




STONE TOM-A-HAWK. 



belt and knife were kept, Pon-ti-ac knew that the 
chiefs there would join the war. Their first move 
was on a fort at De-troit. 

This was Pon-ti-ac's plan. He would go some 
day to the fort with some men and ask leave to 
come in and show them a war dance. While some 



The Red Men and their JVars. 45 

were in the dance, a few would stroll through the 
fort and see all that could be seen. Then they 
would go once more as if for a call, with arms hid 
in their clothes, and strike down the white men 
when they did not look for it. The first part of 
this plan went on all right ; but one of the squaws, 
who was a friend to the head man of the fort, told 
him what the red men meant to do. So when Pon- 
ti-ac and his men went in the fort, each with his 
gun hid in his clothes, they found ranks of men 
with arms to meet them, and they were glad to get 
out with their lives. 

But Pon-ti-ac would not give up, for he made 
more friends, and laid siege to De-troit in 1763. It 
was a long siege for the red man, but it held out, 
though food was scarce, and the men in it felt that 
they must soon starve. Pon-ti-ac at last had to 
make peace, and met his own death at the hands of 
a red man, who was mad with drink ; and so the 
French and In-di-an war came to an end. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE WAR THAT MADE US FREE. 

For a time all were at peace ; but at last a war 
broke out that took more time, and cost more men, 
than all the wars of the past. You have heard of 
it, it may be, by the name of the Rev-o-lu-tion. 

There are some old men who fought in that war, 
who are alive this day. You see the cause of this 
war came out of what our men thought to be their 
wrongs. They thought the rule of Eng-land too hard, 
and that they should have their own men to rule them. 
They would have gone on as they were, if they had 
thought that Eng-land was just to them ; but she 
put a tax on the things they had to use. She had 
a large debt to pay, and so she thought it fair our 
men should help to pay it ; and our men held that 
they ought to have a voice as to what the tax should 
be, and fix what they knew to be right. 

Do you know what a tax means ? It meant, in 
this case, that when our men bought a thing, they 
had to pay a few cents more than its real price, and 
these few cents were to go to Eng-land. Of course 
these few cents from all sides grew to be a good 



The War that made us Free. 47 

sum, and was quite a help. Eng-land, at this time, 
made a law which we know by the name of the 
*' Stamp Act." This law, which gave to Eng-land 
a tax on all deeds, was one great cause of the wrath 
of our men. One man made a speech on it that 
was put in print, and the boys in the schools spoke 
it. In all the States men took the same view ; so 
that the Stamp Act may be said to haye lit the fire 
which in time made such a blaze. 

In all the States men stood up for what they 
thought their rights, and they made up their mind 
that they would not pay this tax on Eng-lish things, 
but would learn to make them of their own. Men 
and their wives took a vow that the fine clothes 
from their old home should not tempt them, but 
they would spin and weave, and wear what they 
made, though it might be poor and coarse. One 
brave dame wrote to her friends, '* I hope there are 
none of us but would wrap up in the skins of sheep 
and goats to keep us warm, if we must else pay a 
tax which is not just on the goods of Eng-land." 

The wrath at the Stamp Act grew more fierce 
each day, and the men who were sent to put it in 
force did not dare to do so. One was caught and 
made to say that he would give the thing up. He 
was made to fling up his hat and cry as they told 
him, three times, in words which meant that they 



48 History of the United States. 

were right and the King was wrong. No one was 
found so bold as to put the Stamp Act in force ; 
and the news went to the King and set him in a 
great rage. Some of their own great men were on 
our side, and were glad we did not yield. 

At last the King gave up the Stamp Act, but 
said he had a right to tax us as he chose. There 
was great joy here at the news that the Stamp Act 
was to be heard from no more. The bells were 
rung, and flags were flung out on the breeze, and all 
who were held for debt were made free. For a year 
there was no more heard of a tax ; but then a new 
act came. This tax was made on tea and glass, 
and such things, which were in use all the time. 
This woke new wrath, and troops had to come out 
to keep the peace, which our men said they would 
not bear. The boys from the schools felt the wrong, 
and would call the ''red-coats" in scorn by that 
name ; and the young men made a vow that they 
would drive them from the town. 

There were street fights each day ; and the men 
were more and more set to have their rights. The 
folk wore the rough clothes which they spun and 
wove, and would not buy a yard of Eng-lish cloth. 
Then they sought to find some plant that they 
might use for tea, so that they would not have to 
buy tea and pay the tax on it. They must have 



The War that made us Free. 49 

had some queer drinks at that time. When the 
King found they were so set in their way, he gave 
up all but the tax on tea. Then he sent three large 
ship loads of it here, in the hope that our folk would 
want it so much when they saw it, that they would 
be glad to pay the tax. 

But our men had made up their minds that this 
tea should not land. So when the tea ships came 
in, a guard was set on them by our men as they lay 
at the wharf, so that the tea should not be brought 
to shore. A large crowd of men met in a Hall in 
Bos-ton, to say what should be done with the tea ; 
and at last they gave out, that if the tea were sent 
back where it came from, all would be well. But 
the head man, who was sent here to rule us by the 
King, would not do this, and said so. When this 
was told to the crowd, a war-whoop was heard at 
the porch, and some men in the dress of In-di-ans 
made a rush down to the wharf, and went on board 
of the three tea ships, and cast all the chests of tea 
in the bay. Then they went home in peace and did 
no one harm. This was the " Bos-ton Tea Par-ty," 
and is so known at this day. 

At New York and Bos-ton they did not try to 
land the tea when they heard of this, but took it 
back. At one time the tea was set on fire. All 
this made our men more and more set on their own 



CO History of the United States. 

way; and the King grew in a rage with them. He 
made some strong laws, sent troops to Bos-ton, and 
put in force a bill called a Port Bill, which would 
not let a boat go in or out the port, save that it 
brought food or wood. One of their own men stood 
up and said this was a ''bill to make us slaves." 
And the wood and food had to be brought in a new 
route, and not straight in the bay. Not a stick of 
wood or a pound of flour could be brought in a row 
boat, or straight in from a near point ; it must all 
go round to the place where the Eng-lish saw fit, 
where they could stop it and see just what was 
there. 

Of course this was hard for the good folk of 
Bos-ton, and they did not bear their wrongs in 
peace. They had gifts sent them by land — of grain 
and salt fish and sheep. From the South came 
flour and rice, and some times gold for the poor. 
So that the Port Bill made all feel to them like 
friends, for all towns took up the cause of Bos-ton 
as their own. 

This was just what the wise men at the court of 
King George had said would be the case. They 
knew it would make our. folk more strong to drive 
them with hard laws to fight. And so it came to 
pass, as the two great men, Burke and Fox, had 
said. King George was set in his way, and would 



The War that made us Free. 51 

not change, but did his best to push the laws 
through. The Bos-ton Port Bill was one of the 
things that made the States one. For they had 
but one mind on these harsh laws, and stood as 
one man for the right. The day when this Port 
Bill was first put in force, the Town Hall in one of 
the towns was hung with black, as for a death ; 
the Bill was on it, and the toll of bells was heard 
all day. 

If we could have stood in Bos-ton in those days, 
we would have seen that there was not much work, 
and no ships at the wharves but those of Eng-land. 
There were guns in view, and men with red-coats 
in the streets. There were tents on the green, and 
clubs that met each night, to talk of this strange 
turn in things, and what was best to do. They 
did not want war, but saw no way to get out of it. 
Great men spoke of it here and there, and each 
speech was read at the clubs. 

''We must fight," grew to be the cry. But there 
were some, of course, who felt sad at all this, who 
thought it wrong not to do the will of the King in 
all things. They said this land would come to 
grief, for we were the ones who had the most to 
lose by war. These men had the name of '' To-ries," 
and the rest did not look on them as friends, but 
held them as foes. Some of these men went back 



52 History of the United States. 

to their old homes, and came here in the troops of 
the King to fight their old friends. Some stayed 
and came round to new views, and took part in the 
wars that came to pass in time. All knew that the 
ranks of the King would be made of men who had 
fought in wars, and were known to be brave ; while 
on our side they would be raw men, who did not 
know the art of war. But still our men were brave, 
and they said, with strong hearts, ''The strife may 
be long, but the end is sure. We will fight for our 
homes, for our lands, for the right. We will be 
free ! " 



CHAPTER V. 



THREE GREAT FIGHTS. 



In each town, at this time, men thought but of 
war, and how to train for it ; so that in case of need 
each one could spring to arms at once. Guns were 
put in a safe place, and stores of food were bought. 
The Brit-ish in their turn kept watch on all, and 
more troops were brought in. 

Our men rnade a plan, that when it should be 
known that a large force of the Brit-ish were to move 
out of Bos-ton at night, a light should be hung out of 
the North Church by way of a sign. One night the 
watch by the Charles saw the light gleam high on 
the church, and they knew some move was on hand. 
At once all was stir and noise. Men rode here and 
there to find out what it meant. One went in a 
boat, and then took a fleet horse to seek out two of 
the wise and great men, and see what was best to 
do. The man who took this ride, and went from 
house to house with a call to those who slept, was 
Paul Re-vere. There is a song this day on that 
ride. 

You may be sure there was no more sleep in 



54 History of the United States. 

a house that night. When he rode by — '' Do not 
make so much noise," said one on guard. 

** Noise," said Paul Re-vere, '' there will be 
noise ere long ; the foe is on us ! " 

All this time the Eng-lish troops had made a 
swift, still march. They thought no one had seen 
or known their move ; but all at once the bells in 
each church rang out a wild peal. In each town 
the church bell sent a call to each home. So it was 
plain that all was known. Paul Re-vere and the 
scouts had done the work well. The Brit-ish sent 
back for more troops. They came, and they were 
told to hold the bridge at Con-cord. But when 
Ma-jor Pit-cairn, who was at the head of the Brit- 
ish, came to Lex-ing-ton at dawn, he found a great 
crowd of men with arms. 

''What do ye here?" he said, in wrath, "go to 
your homes ! Why don't ye lay down your arms ?" 
But as they made no move to go, his troops sent 
forth a fire on them, which they gave back with a 
will. Eight of our men got their death wounds that 
day, and this was the first blood shed in the war. 

The Brit-ish then gave three cheers and set out 
on a march to Con-cord. The people of that town 
made haste to move their stores of food and arms 
to a safe place in the woods. Their scouts took the 
North bridge, and could see that the Brit-ish were 



Three Great Fights. 55 

in the streets of the town ; that they had set the 
court house on fire, and cut down the pole, and laid 
waste the stores they found. So the men on the 
bridge made up their minds they would try to drive 
this foe out. There were but few of them, but they 
had strong hearts. 

One of their head men said, " I have not a man 
who fears to go." He was the first who was shot, 
and fell dead. Still they went on and made a brave 
fire, so that the Brit-ish set out to run. But they 
could not go back as they came ; for by this time 
our men for miles round, came in on all sides. 
Some were in their shirt sleeves, they had come in 
such haste ; but each one had a gun in his hand, 
and took his place back of a tree or stone wall, 
where he could get good aim. One of the Brit-ish 
wrote home that the men came so fast, they would 
seem to drop from the sky. 

At each step the Brit-ish troops took, a shot 
would come from some side, and a man would fall 
dead. At last such a fear came on our foe, that 
they broke into a run. They did not know what 
to do. They had no more shot, and could not give 
back the fire. One of them wrote, "They had to 
lie down for rest on the ground, and their tongues 
hung out of their mouths like dogs spent by the 
chase." All the way to Bos-ton they felt the 



56 History of the United States. 

fire of our men, and they were glad to get back to 
their great ships, the men of war, and rest where 
they could be safe. They had lost three times more 
men than the A-mer-i-cans. 

There was a great stir in the court of the King 
when the news was brought that their troops had 
run from a hand full of raw men, who had no skill 
in the art of war. Poor Lord Per-cy, who had been 
at the head of the Eng-lish, came in for hard names, 
though he was a brave man. They were mad, and 
had to give vent to their wrath on some one. In 
A-mer-i-ca it was felt that this was the first blow 
struck ; and Sam-u-el Ad-ams, when he heard the 
news at Lex-ing-ton, said, *'Oh, what a grand day 
this is ! " for he knew this strife would not end till 
all the States were free. 

There were some hills near Bos-ton, and our 
men knew that there was a plan to gain them, and 
make a place for Eng-lish troops on them. You 
see, if the foe had such high ground, they could have 
a grand chance to fire down on those in the town. 
So our men stole out by night and threw up earth 
works, and took all the troops they could get from 
all parts, and put them in charge there. In the 
mean while they sent their wives and young ones 
out of the town, so that none but Brit-ish troops 
were left there. They made no noise in their 



Three Great Fights. 57 

march that night ; no one heard them, and the 
bells in the church struck twelve ere they dug a 
sod. But they were soon at work, and could hear 
the guard on the man-of-war cry out each hour, 
-All's well." 

When the day came, and the sun rose, the earth 
works were seen from the ships, and at once they sent 
out a fire on them. So in Bos-ton the troops woke 
to see the true state of things, and were not slow to 
do their best. But our men went on with their 
work, spite of the shots. One of the foe had a 
glass through which he could see each move of our 
men round the works. "Will they fight?" said he. 
'' To the last drop of their blood," said one who 
stood near. 

So they made up their minds to lose no time, 
but to make a raid on the works that day. It was 
a hot day in June. Part of our men stood by a rail 
fence, on the edge of a hill, by the name of Bun-ker 
Hill; part were back of the mounds which w^ere 
but half made. Then the rail fence was made to 
screen the men back of it, by a lot of new mown 
hay, put in to fill up the gaps. 

The Brit-ish troops went in boats, and took their 
stand on the bank of the Charles. They had two 
men to our one, and were full of skill in the use of 
arms. Our men had come in from the farm or the 



58 



Histojy of the Uftited Slates. 



shop. They did not know what a drill meant ; but 
their place was more safe back of the earth works, 
while the troops of the foe were out in full sight 

in the field. It is a 
grand sight ; the long 
lines, the red coats 
and white pants of 
the B r i t-i s h ; the 
white cross belts, the 
beat of drums, the 
play of fifes. The 
sky is clear and hot. 
Great white clouds 
sail on the blue. The 
folks crowd on the 
roof of each house 
in the town. 

So our men laid 
in wait, as the troops 
took up a slow march 
on them. The Eng- 
lish found the day 
hot, and they had 
their arms and food 
to weigh them down. But they had no doubts, and 
their march was sure. They would fire now and 
then, and few shots fell on them. On they came, 




JO-SEPH WAR-REN. 



Three Great Fis'hts. 



59 



till they got ten rods from the earth works. Then 
the word rang out on our side, " Fire ! " When 
the smoke was gone it was seen that the dead lay 
on the ground here and there ; and those who were 
left had set off to run. 

A great shout went up from the forts ; a cheer 
came back from those at the rail fence. They, too, 
had held back their fire to the last, and 
then three fourths of those who had 
set out to chase them fell in the ranks, 
and the rest ran. 



Gen-er-al Put-nam 
was one of our great 
men in this fight. 
When the foe came 
on, he had said to 
his men, "Aim 
low ; wait till you 
can see the whites 
of their eyes," and 
their aim was sure. 




PLAN OF BUNK-ER HILL. 



MON-U-MENT. 



When they saw the Brit-ish troops in flight, they 
thought they would give them chase ; but they had 
no more shot, and so could not make good what 
they had won. They fell back with sad hearts, one 
by one, and lost more as they did so than they had 
done in the fight. 



6o History of the United States. 

This was the fight of Bunk-er Hill, and though 
the A-mer-i-cans did not win the day, they made 
plain to all men that they had stout hearts, and 
could deal a blow for their rights. In this fight 
Gen^er-al War-ren lost his life. 



CHAPTER VI. 

FIRST IN WAR FIRST IN PEACE. 

The first thing George Wash-ing-ton was heard 
to ask when news came of this fight was, '' Did our 
men stand fire ?" And when he was told that they 
did, he said, "Then the rights of our land are safe." 
From this day our men took heart and were of good 
cheer. The Brit-ish lost one in four of their men 
in that fight ; and on our side we did not lose half 
as much. In Eng-land men did not know what to 
make of so great a loss to their troops from so small 
a force as ours. 

In this land there was a call for more troops, 
and George Wash-ing-ton was put at their head. 
He had shown that he was a brave and true man. 
He came from Vir-gin-ia, his home, and met the 
rest 'neath a great elm tree in Cam-bridge. This 
tree is known as the ''Wash-ing-ton Elm" to this 
day. All felt a wish to see this brave man, who 
had no small fame ; they came from all sides to 
greet him, and saw a man more than six feet tall, 
with a broad chest, large hands and feet, a fine face, 
a clear eye, and the air of one born to rule. He 



62 Histoiy of the Untied States. 

wore a blue coat, with buff small clothes, and a 
black plume in his hat. 

Wash-ing-ton saw, in his turn, a crowd of men 
of all sorts and kinds, rude and rough in their looks, 
and with odd kinds of arms, no two of which were 
alike, in their hands. Some were in old coats, some 
in their shirt sleeves. No state suits or gold bands 
or fine plumes were there. And when Gen-er-al 
Wash-ing-ton went round to the camp, he found 
things were in a bad state. Some had straight lines 
of tents, neat and nice, but most were in small huts 
made of boards or stones or turf. The food was 
rough and scarce, and the men had not the first 
means for war; not as much as would load their 
guns more than a few times. 

It would not have been strange if Wash-ing-ton 
had felt his heart sink at such a sight. But he 
went to work in a brave way to do the best he 
could. Some store ships of food fell, by good luck, 
in the hands of our men, who had been sent out to 
get what they could ; so that food was not so scarce. 
But still they had no food for their guns, and could 
not march on the foe. 

The Brit-ish troops still held Bos-ton ; but could 
not get food and wood for fires. The small-pox, 
too, broke out in their midst. They had to pull 
down an old house now and then and burn it to 



First in War — First in Peace. 63 

keep warm ; and they sent crowds out of the town 
to be fed.. They put troops in each church, and 
made a play house of the Town Halh At times 
they would send out play bills to Wash-ing-ton and 
his men. They did not want them to know that 
things were so hard vv^ith them. 

Once in this hall they had a play on the times. 
It was meant to show how they were shut In by the 
foe, and of course to make fun at the same time. 
In one part, a man in a dress like Wash-ing-ton, 
with a great wig, and a long sword all rust, came 
on the stage. By his side was a green lad, with an 
old gun. This was done to cast a slur on our men. 
But just then there was a cry, ''The Yan-kees are 
on Bunk-er Hill." At first this was thought to be 
a part of the play; but when Gen-er-al Howe said, 
in a loud voice, ''Men, to your posts!" there was 
great fright. Men ran, their wives fell in a faint, 
and all felt there was no fun in such a scare. In a 
short time the Eng-lish left Bos-ton ; for they could 
not be safe from the fire that came down on them 
from all the hills round. 

But they did not give up the fight. When the 
King and his court heard of Bunk-er Hill, they 
made up their -minds they would rule this land, let 
it cost what it would. So they cut off our trade as 
far as they could, and they brought in all the men 



64 



History of the Utiited States. 




they could find from all lands which would give 
them help. So you may be sure they had a great 
crowd to come on us and try to bend us to their 
will. But our folk kept up a stout heart in the face 
of all. They felt they had gone too far to go back. 
There were some wise men who were known 

as the "Con-gress," who 
had met in Phil-a-del- 
phia. They gave it as 
their mind that "These 
States are and of right 
ought to be free ; " and 
they stuck to this text. 
The troops had to fight, 
and it was the part of 
Con-gress to raise the 
men, the pay, and the 
arms. It would seem 
that they had the worst 
^ ^y^ ^ y^ part to do. To be sure, 

:l2y^^^2^.^-^^^-t^ when they thought of the 

might take 
the face of 
such a foe, it must be 
said, our men had done well. Doc-tor Frank-lin 
felt that way ; but there were some rich men who 
thought it would be death to the States to make wan 




^—-^.^^^^^ — ^y^ past, they 

heart. In 



First in Jf^ar — First in Peace, 



65 



So Con-gress met to see if it were best that they 
should strike the blow at once that would make 
them free. They had more than one talk on this, 
and at first the time did not seem ripe. They were 
to break all ties with Eng-land, to pay no more 
tax, and to try to find help if they could, in their 
fight to be free. Some great men wrote out the 
plan, and you can still see it in the Hall in Phil-a- 
del-phia. This sheet is called the " Dec-la-ra-tion 
of In-de-pend-ence." It meant that they were 




JOHN HAN-COCK's RES-1-DENCE, BOS-TON. 



bound to be free, and so they wrote it down. It 
was made Ju-ly 4th, 1776, and that is why you 
hear the noise of fire works and see signs of joy on 
each Fourth of Ju-ly since that day. 



66 



Historv of the United States. 



When the men came to sign this Dec-la-ra-tion, 
the one who wrote his name first, said, "We must 
be one ; we must all pull the same way ; we must 
hang side by side." ''Or we shall hang with none 

at our side," said 
Frank-lin. But 
no doubt there 
were sad hearts 
that day, though 
these words did 
raise a laugh. 

They did not 
change this dec- 




la-ra-tion much 
from the way 
I they wrote it 
first. There was 
one clause on 
the slave trade 
which the men 
from the South 
did not like ; so 
it was struck out. There were twelve States — though 
they did not call them States in those days — that 
gave their vote for it. New York would not vote 
at all. The bell of the State House was to ring if 
the ''Dec-la-ra-tion" should pass. This bell had 



IN-DE-PEND-ENCE HALL. 



First in War — First in Peace. 67 

been put up years since, and one might read on it, 
though these are not just the words, '' Let all the 
land be free." So the old man who was wont to 
ring this bell, put his boy at the door of the hall 
where the men met. 

When at last the Dec-la-ra-tion should pass, the 
man who kept the door was to make a sign to the 
boy. You may think how all hearts beat when this 
boy ran out with a cry of ''Ring, ring;" and what 
a peal of joy rang out from the bell ! Then the 
Dec-la-ra-tion was read to each of the troops, and 
there were loud cheers on cheers from all sides. 
That night the form of George the Third, on horse- 
back, which had been wrought in stone, and stood 
in one of the squares, was laid low in the dust by 
the crowd. 

Yet for all this brave show, the men were sad at 
heart. They knew how poor they were, and how 
few, and the true state of the troops, and all that 
could be brought to put them down. They set out 
to make a flag of their own ; for they had all sorts 
of flags at this time. One had a pine tree on a 
white ground, and was known as the '' pine tree 
flag." On this flag were words which meant, *' Call 
to God for help." 

When Wash-ing-ton came to take the head of 
the troops, he had a new flag made with stripes of 



68 History of the United States. 

red and white, as now ; but on one end was a red 
and white cross, hke that which marks the Brit-ish 
flag. This flag went with our troops in Bos-ton, 
when the Brit-ish took up their march out of that 
place. But, by vote of Con-gress, a change was 
made, and it was said that our flag must have red 
and white stripes, and white stars on a blue ground 
— a star and a stripe for each State. Now when 
they make a new State, they put a new star on our 
flag. Count them and see how strong we are. 

The first man to hoist the new flag was Cap-tain 
Paul Jones. He was at the head of a man-of-war, 
and from that ship it was first flung out on the 
breeze. This is the flag that now waves in town 
and camp, and on our ships to all the ports of the 
land. We have more stars now, but the stripes 
stay the same. 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE REST OF THE WAR. 



Up to this time, most of the fights had been 
round Bos-ton. But Wash-ing-ton now saw that 
there would be a move made on New York ; so he 
sent Gen-er-al Lee to help keep the town, and he 
soon went there too. Some men came to their 
aid from the South, and Lord Howe, with a great 
mass of Eng-lish troops, were there to meet them. 
Lord Howe had word from King George first to 
speak of peace, but he did not know to whom he 
should speak. He wrote a note to "George Wash- 
ing-ton ; " but our chief would not read it, as he 
said his true name, as head of the troops, should 
be on it. So Lord Howe wrote no more. He 
saw that the hour to fight had come. 

At first the A-mer-i-can troops came to grief, 
and Wash-ing-ton and his men had to make their 
way back for a time. The Brit-ish took heart from 
this, and our men were sad. They were poor, and 
had few clothes, and some had no shoes for that 
long, hard march ; so that one could track their 
steps by the blood on the ground. 



70 Histoiy of the United States. 

Wash-ing-ton saw there was no time to lose, and 
he must strike a swift blow. He knew there were 
troops of Ger-mans at Tren-ton, and that they still 
held to the ways of their land. Do you know the 
name of that day when you have a tree with nice gifts 
and lights hung on it ? It is the day when Christ was 
born, and which we keep to this time for His sake. 
Well, Wash-ing-ton knew these folk would cling to 
the ways of their old homes. That they would keep 
the feast and be off their guard. So on the eve of 
that day he set out to march on them with his men. 
A storm of sleet came up in the night, but they 
went on, and when the dawn rose, these brave men, 
who had come through the snow and ice, stood in 
ranks for the fight. Some one wrote a note, and a 
man ran all the way to Tren-ton to warn the Ger- 
mans. But they were at cards. The Gen-er-al had 
his cards in his hands, and it was his turn to play. 
He must look at his cards first. 

Yes, his life is at stake, but he does not know it. 
In the dim gray of the dawn our men march in on 
them. There is the sound of wheels and a shout. 
Co-lon-el Kail hears the drums beat, and the cards 
drop from his hands — too late ! He got his death 
in that fight, and all his men were held and bound. 
These things put our troops in heart once more, 
and it was the wish of all to go on ; but they had a 



The Rest of the War. 71 

hard, sad time through the days of storm and cold 
at Val-ley Forge. 

If we could see that camp at Val-ley Forge, in 
our mind's eye, we would know how much those 
poor men had to bear in this war to make us free. 
They had lost some by death, and more were ill. 
They had so few clothes to put on when they slept, 
that some sat up all night by the fires to keep warm. 
At one time there were few who had shoes, and 
the sick had to lie on the bare ground, for want of 
straw. The head men had to wear old quilts or 
bed spreads round in the camp, to keep them warm, 
for want of the right kind of clothes. 

The troops were not paid ; or the sort of pay 
they got would not buy them food. Food was so 
scarce that, at last, the pass word was, "No food — 
no man." There were men in this camp who had 
been at the court of kings ; who had fed on rich 
food, and had wine to drink, and now they were 
like to starve. 

All this time Wash-ing-ton did his best to keep 
up the heart of his troops. He did not tell Con- 
gress how few and worn they were ; and there were 
those who gave him blame that he did not do great 
things with these few worn out men. All this time 
the Brit-ish troops in Phil-a-del-phia had what they 
chose of good fare, and led a gay life. Some of 



72 History of the United States. 

them, with Gen-er-al Bur-goyne at their head, in 
the mean time, had two or three fights with our 
men, but found they did not gain much. At last 
they were glad to go back. Just as they made a 
move to do so, our men had the luck to hem them 
in on all sides in one place and won the day. This 
was at Sar-a-to-ga. This was good news to those 
in Val-ley Forge. It brought cheer to them, and 
they felt brave to go on. 

In Eng-land men did not know what to make 
of our luck. It made a stir in France, where we 
had friends ; and some of their young men came 
here to join our troops. We had some great French 
men with us at that time. One whose name is still 
held in love by all — the great La-fa-yette. 

At this time France made a vow to us that she 
would stand our friend, and give us aid. When 
this was known in Eng-land, fears rose on all sides ; 
for they knew how much help France could give, 
and how strong it would make us. They sent men 
over to talk to us of peace, but it was too late. The 
A-mer-i-cans had no thought but to be free, and 
they would take no less than that. But these men 
still came, and thought they would see what bribes 
could do. A large sum of gold was held out to 
Gen-er-al Reed, if he would aid their cause. He 
said, " I am not worth so much ; but such as I am, 



,,j««ipir^|^|.^M 







« 
O 

t-H 

< 

W 

o 



» 1) J J 



74 Histo7y of the United States. 

the King of Eng-land has not so much gold as 
would buy me ! " 

But the aid from France was less than they 
thought it would be. Fleets were sent, but they 
gave small help to the cause. And so the war 
went on for three years more. At times our men 
would make a good fight, and then there would be 
dark days when the foe had things all his own way. 
The Eng-lish had paid some tribes of In-di-ans to 
fight on their side ; and once there was a sad scene, 
where men and their wives and babes were put to 
death by these fierce wild men. This was not war, 
of course. We give it a much worse name. 

Then there were sea-fights. In one of these, the 
men on the ships fought three hours, and the ships 
took fire more than once ; but at last the Brit-ish 
gave up. In that ship the man who took the lead 
on our side was Paul Jones. 

There is a tale told of what the brave wife of 
one of those men, to whom we give the name of 
Friends, did for our cause at this time. Gen-er-al 
Howe made his home in her house, a long low 
brick one, at Tren-ton. He said to her one day, 
" I want to have some friends here to night, and I 
would like to have the spare back room to meet 
them in." 

''It shall be as thee says," said Friend Ruth. 



The Rest of the War. 75 

''See that all the folks in the house are in bed 
at a good hour," said Gen-er-al Howe. 

" I will move that they go," said Friend Ruth. 

So when the men came to see Gen-er-al Howe 
that night, it was all still in the house. Friend 
Ruth let them in. 

''You may go to bed and stay till I call," said 
Gen-er-al Howe. 

Ruth went to her room and lay down awhile ; 
but did not take off her clothes. She must know 
what these men meant to do. At last she took off 
her shoes and went to the door of the room, and 
put her ear to the key hole. This is what she 
heard. Some one reads, "Our troops will make a 
move by stealth on the foe, and we will take them 
ere they know we are on them ! " 

There was no more sleep for Friend Ruth that 
night. She lay in her bed till dawn ; but all her 
aim was to think of a plan to help our troops, and 
not to let them fall in the snare. At last she hit on 
a plan to get out of the lines. She was in need of 
some flour ; and to get flour, she must go to a grist 
mill, for they did not sell it at stores in those days. 
Gen-er-al Howe could not say he would not let her 
get flour, as he ate at her house ; so he gave her a 
pass. While they ground the grist for her at the 
mill, she rode on as fast as she could, till she came 



76 History of the United States. 

to one of our guards. She said some words to him 
in a low voice, and rode back, got her flour, and was 
home in no time. 

When Gen-er-al Howe came on our troops the 
next day, he found them all drawn up in rank and 
file in good trim to meet him. He thought it best 
not to have a fight at all ; and it was a strange thing 
to him how they could have known of his move. 

Down in the South there were brave men at the 
head of our troops. One was Ma-ri-on, who led his 
men through the woods by paths that were known 
to few. They gave him the name of the ''Swamp 
Fox," and the Brit-ish cast slurs on him, and said 
he would not come out for a fight in a bold way, 
but took their posts at night, and when they were 
off guard. But he gave them a proof of what he 
could do, when he and Greene fought them and 
won the day in a fair field. Greene made such a 
name in this fight that he took rank next to Wash- 
ing-ton from that time. 

We have to tell a sad tale now of one of our 
own men — a man, loo, who had won fame in the 
war. He had shown that he was brave ; but men 
did not like him much, for he thought more of his 
own gain than of his land, and he had the wish for 
a high place, which he did not get. His name was 
Ben-e-dict Ar-nold, and his bad act was, that he 



The Rest of the War. jy 

made a plan to sell his own land to the Eng-lish. 
He wrote to the foe all he could of the moves our 
troops were to make, and their state, but he did not 
sign his own name. Once he had his camp at the 
head of some men at West Point, and he made up 
his mind to give this place, which was strong with 
forts, to the Brit-ish. This he would have done, 
and the whole land would have come to grief, but 
for a chance that brought the vile plan to light. 

One day a young man rides down the path by 
the stream. There is a wood of oak near. On the 
ground, by the trees, there are three young men. 
They have a game of cards. They have been out 
all night, and have sat down to rest. 

They hear the sound of hoofs. 

*' Some one on his way to New York for trade,'' 
says one. 

His friend peers out. *' No ; his clothes are too 
good for that," he says. 

All three spring to their feet, and cry, " Halt ! " 

The man on the horse stops, and says, '' I hope 
you are on our side." 

** Which side is that ?" cry the men. 

''The side of the King." 

''All right," they say; for they wish to find out 
more. 

"Thank God, I am once more with friends!" he 



y8 History of the United States. 

says, as he takes out his gold watch. *' I must get 
on. I am in orreat haste." 

''We can not let you go," say 
the men. 

'' But I have a pass." 




i( 



Wh 



ose : 



MA-JOR AN DRE. 



*' Gen-er-al Ar-nold's." 
"You must get off your horse." 
" But, I tell you, you will get in 
a scrape if you stop me. Read this 
pass." 

** No good. You said you were 
Brit-ish ; we must search you." 
*' I have naught." 

"We will see. Take off your coat." 
The coat is laid off, and the boots. Ah, what 
is this? The hand of Ar-nold in this ; and "West 
Point " the date. A shout went up, " He is a spy ! " 
He was a young Eng-lish man by the name of 
An-dre. He took his watch and purse, and said he 
would give them all, if they would let him go free. 
They would not, but took him to the near A-mer-i- 
can Post to try him. Of course, what Ar-nold had 
done all came out. He had known this would be 
the case, for as soon as the news was brought that 
An-dre was in the hands of our men, he took leave 
of his wife, gave a kiss to his boy, and sped on his 



The Rest of the War. 79 

way to an Eng-lish ship. He got to Eng-land, and 
was paid a large sum of gold ; and they gave him a 
fine place at the head of some troops ; but no man 
would make a friend of him. The Eng-lish had 
been glad to use him, but they would not take him 
by the hand. 

You may think what a life he had. His own 
land had cast him out, but he came back to fight 
her at the head of the foe. But the new land 
where he had made his home had no real place for 
him. Once in the great house in Eng-land, where 
the wise men meet to talk of their laws, one rose to 
make a speech. But when he saw Ar-nold in a 
seat near him, he said, '' I will not speak while 
that man is in the house." Long years after, when 
one of the great men of France had it in his mind 
to come to this land, he went to Ar-nold for some 
notes to his friends. Ar-nold said, '' I was born in 
A-mer-i-ca. I spent my youth there ; but Ah ! I 
can call no man in A-mer-i-ca my friend." 

In the mean time An-dre, the young Eng-lish 
man, who had met Ar-nold, and got the plans 
which were to give us up in to the hands of the foe, 
was shown to be a spy. There was but one doom 
for a spy. He must be hung. All felt for his fate. 
He was young, and had a fine face, and the air of 
good birth ; but his hour had come. Tears were 



8o History of the United States. 

shed at his death ; though he was our foe. All 
knew he was a brave man, who had not been slow 
to risk his life in the cause of his land. He thought 
he was right, and took all means to serve his own 
ends. For Ar-nold, who would have sold his own, 
there was but hate, and they gave him a name which 
would serve to show what his crime had been to all 
time — Ar-nold the Trai-tor ! 

All this while the French had been our friends ; 
but they had not met with a chance to show what 
they could do, till a great fight came which made 
an end of this war. This was at a place by the 
name of York-town, in Vir-gin-ia. Wash-ing-ton 
was there with his troops, and the French Gen- 
er-al, who had a hard name, which you may learn 
one of these days, was with him at the head of his 
men. They took the best works of the Brit-ish, 
and made such a brave stand, that Lord Corn-wal- 
lis thought it would be wise to leave by night, with 
all his troops. But a storm came, and they could 
not get off, so they all had to give up to Wash- 
ing-ton. 

There was a grand scene that day, in the fall of 
1 78 1, when Wash-ing-ton and his French friends 
stood in two ranks, and their old foes took up a 
slow march by them, and laid down their arms as 
they went. Great was the joy in all the land when 



The Rest of the War, 8 1 

the news was known. Those who woke that night 
in Phil-a-del-phia, heard the watch cry, '' Past two 
o'clock and Corn-wal-hs is ours ! " When the news 
came to Con-gress, they sent out word for a day to 
be set, in all the States, to give thanks to God, and 
all who were held for debt, or for crime, or what 
cause it might be, were set free, that they might 
share the great joy. 

Well might they all be glad, for this meant the 
end of the war. It had cost them dear in gold as 
well as lives ; but it had been worse for Eng-land 
than for them. The sums she had spent were vast, 
and one could not count the lives she had lost. 
Add to this the fact that she had lost this great 
land, which had once been all her own, and now 
was made free. Our land now took a new name. 
You can read it, I know, though it is not in short 
words, ''The U-nit-ed States of A-mer-i-ca." i 



CHAPTER VIII. 



IN TIMES OF PEACE. 



When peace came, the men who had been in 
camp went to their own homes. They were all 
poor, and did not know what to do. There was no 

gold in the land, but a 
kind of cash which was 
so bad that it took more 
than you could count to 
buy a pair of shoes. Gen- 
er-al Wash-ing-ton found 
his task more hard to 
keep all in good cheer, 
now there were no fights 
on hand, than when they 
were at war. There had 
to be a tax on some things 
to keep all right, and they 
did not want to pay the 
tax, or their debts at this 
time. Wash-ing-ton felt 
that things were at loose ends, and he must make 
them more strong. 




GEORGE WASH-ING-TON. 



Ill Times of Peace. 83 

Each State had a wish to be first ; and it would 
seem that, with no foe to fight, they were on the 
point of war with their own selves. There was need 
of a strong hand to rule the whole land. So men 
were sent out of each State to meet in Phil-a-del- 
phia and talk of the best plan. They had a long 
talk, and at last wrote what we call the '' Con-sti-tu- 
tion." Ten of the States gave it their vote at once ; 
but three held back for a while. 

There were grand times in our land when it 
was known that the Con-sti-tu-tion was to be our 
guide; that we were to be in truth, "The U-nit-ed 
States of A-mer-i-ca," with one will, one aim, one 
soul as it were, while time should last. 

A great crowd came out in Phil-a-del-phia to 
show their joy. Each trade had its men there, 
with the tools of the trade in their hands. There 
was a grand car, made in the shape of that bird 
which we chose as the sign of our land. It was 
drawn by six steeds, and in it sat those who were 
to judge the folk in our great courts. They held a 
staff, and on it was our "Con-sti-tu-tion," in a frame, 
and on the top of the staff a cap, which we might 
call the cap of the free — a kind they were fond of in 
France at that time. There were ten ships on the 
river, gay with flags and gilt, to show forth the 
ten States that had cast their vote in the right way. 



84 



History of the United States. 



' George Wash-ing-ton was made the first Pres-i- 
dent, and as he took his way to New York, which 
was then the seat of rule, he met joy and kind words 
on all the route. 

At Tren-ton, where he had fought, there was an 
arch thrown out on a bridge, where he must pass. 
This was hung with wreaths, and young girls stood 
with hands full of sweet buds and bloom, which 




WASH-ING-TON MADE PRES-I-DENT. 



they flung in his path, as they sung a song to greet 
him, and thank him for all he had done. 

As he drew near New York, a barge came out 
to meet him. It had a crew all in white, and w^as 
meant to show the States — a man for each State. 
Then more boats came to join them, with our flag 



In Times of Peace. 85 

on each. Wash-ing-ton was led in great state to 
his new home. When the time came for him first 
to meet with the folk and take the oath to be true 
to the Con-sti-tu-tion, there was such a rush to 
the place that some one said, " One might walk on 
the heads of the crowd." When Wash-ing-ton 
came out where all could see him, and the oath was 
read to him, and he took it, a great cheer rent the 
air, and a cry rang out, " Long live George Wash- 
ing-ton, Pres-i-dent of the U-nit-ed States." There 
was a flag flung out from that Hall, a peal of bells 
rang, and a blast was sent out from the guns, to 
show the joy and the love with which they took him 
for their chief. This was on April 30, 1789. 

War is bad for all folks ; for it is hard, when it 
is past, for men to learn the arts of peace. Wash- 
ing-ton found the whole land in debt. They did 
not want a tax, and the red men were still their foes. 
But in a few years he made a great change. The 
In-di-ans were put down, and France and Spain 
and Eng-land were brought to deal with us as 
friends. It was a man by the name of John Jay, 
who wrote out the terms with Eng-land, and so we 
had peace for a time. 

Just then there was a great fight in France, not 
with a foe, but in their own midst. The men there 
had seen how our land had won the day, and they 



86 Histoiy of the United States. 

had a mind to be free and have no King. They 
did not go at it in the same way that we did ; but 
shed much blood of their own folk, and cut off the 
heads of their King and Queen, and did things 
which made good men sad. But they said they 
did it all to be free. There was a reign of fright 
for a time. But at last, the mob could rule no 
more, and they were glad to take a King. 

Wash-ing-ton kept up great state, for those 
times, in his own home, and when he drove out 
he had a state coach, cream white in hue, and 
drawn by six steeds on state days. He took but one 
horse on the Lord's day, when he rode to church. 
This coach was of the shape of a half sphere, and 
had wreaths, and the forms of small fat boys with 
wings, drawn on it in gay tints. He set days for all 
to come and see him in his home. Those who 
came would see Wash-ing-ton in front of the fire 
place, and near him the band of great men who 
gave him help with their wise words. He would 
be, seen in a coat of black, with a vest of white or 
pearl, and buff gloves. His hair was made white 
with a kind of dust they had in use in those days ; 
and it was put in a sort of silk bag at the back of 
his head. That was a queue. 

He would have his hat in his hand, and he 
wore a long sword. He did not shake hands with 



In Times of Peace, 87 

his guests, but made them a bow, and had some 
word for each. His wife, too, had times for her 
friends to come ; and all must be in full dress — the 
dames in low necks and short sleeves. On the 
birth day of Wash-ing-ton, men would meet to dine 
in all the large towns ; and those who made rhymes 
would write odes to the great man. There were 
some who did not like all this state and form and 
show. They thought it was too much like the style 
of kings in the old land, and they would have been 
glad to have a new mode here. They did not wish 
to see a Judge in a robe of red, or the man who 
was to preach in the church in a wig, with gown 
and bands. They were for plain dress and plain 
ways. 

You may see now bits of the stiff, rich silks of 
those days, or it may be a quaint old gown, rich in 
lace, which has been kept from that time. You 
may see in your mind the dame who wore it, as she 
waves her fan, sent from France, with the head of 
Wash-ing-ton on it. The hair of this dame would 
be drawn high on her head, and made white with 
the dust of which I spoke, and put in great puffs. 
The men whose trade it was to dress hair in 
those days had such a crowd of folks to fix, that 
they had to get up at four to do the work. I 
have heard of great dames who sat up all night to 



88 History of the ■ United States. 

keep their hair in good style for some ball, or the 
play. The men, too, thought quite as much of 
dress as their wives, and in those days they did not 
wear plain cloth suits as now. Then a man put on 
a wig, and a white stiff stock, that held up his chin ; 
a vest of white silk, it may be with rose-buds on it, 
and all the rest of his clothes were rich. 

It was the mode to have a snuff box in those 
days ; it might be of gold, or some dear stuff, with 
much work on it, and when one met a friend they 
would be as sure to stop and take a pinch of snuff 
as to lift the hat in our time. 

They gave Balls in those days, which were quite 
grand, but they did not dance in the same way as 
now. They had all sorts of slow steps and bows. 
There was a kind of stiff grace in their style, and 

some would like it more now, than 
the rush and whirl of our mode of 
to-day. The dames were borne in a 
sort of chair through the streets to 
these Balls. 

All this was the way of life with 
the rich. The poor still wore the 
clothes they spun and wove, and they 
made their own lights, and struck fire with two 
flints. They had not seen a match then, and did not 
dream of gas, or of the strange new light which has 




SPIN-NING VVHEbl.. 



In Times of Peace. 



89 



been found in our time. They went to bed with 
the chicks, and rose when the cock crew. The towns 
at the North 

throve the ^S':A 

best. At 

the South 

towns were 

few, and in 

the far West 

the foot of 

man had not 

yet found its 

way. 

Those 
brave men 
who had 
first come to 
this land, 
had seen 
here and 
there in 
the South 
a strange 
plant. It 
had a sort 
of bulb full 
of a fine white down, and those who had seen it In 




COT-TON PLANT. 



90 History of the United States. 

hot lands knew it could be spun, and cloth made 
from it. It was not hard to make it grow; but the 
white fluff was so full of seeds that it took a whole 
day to get a pound free from them. Wise men saw 
in this plant a great fund of wealth for the States. 
So they set to work to find a quick way to take the 
seed out. 

There was a man in the East who heard of this, 
and set his brain to work. He was a young man 
by the name of E-li Whit-ney ; and he had not seen 
the plant when he took it in his head that he could 
find a way to '*gin" it; for that is the name of the 
work. He had to walk all the way to one of the 
towns at the South, to get the seed, and as he had 
no tools or wire, he had to make them. You may 
think that was slow work, but he had a strong will, 
and when he had made a rude *'gin," he bade his 
friends come and see how it would do. All saw 
that it would work well ; but some thieves broke in 
his house at night and stole it. So there was a long 
time that the man who made the "gin" got nought 
for it. For those who stole it made gins like it and 
sold them. These gins did the work well and fast, 
and so there grew up a great trade for us in this 
soft white fluff„ 

It is made in cloth for you to wear, and is 
spread on your beds, and will take all sorts of 



hi Times of Peace. 91 

bright dyes. We sell it to all the world, and 
wealth flows in on all sides. This would not have 
been the case had not the young man, E-li Whit- 
ney, made the *'gin." 

The death of one of the great men of the land 
came to pass at this time. We have told you of 
Ben-ja-min Frank-lin. He was born in Bos-ton, 
and he was the son of a poor man. But he knew 
how to print, and he set up a press in a room where 
he could print each morn the news of the day. He 
did not scorn to sell all sorts of wares as well, such 
as rags, ink, soap, and such things. He had read 
a great deal, and found out more than those round 
him knew. You have seen the sharp light play in 
the dark clouds in a storm. You know that it 
strikes at times ; it may be a house or a barn or a 
man, and that the one who is struck is apt to die. 

Well, Frank-lin thought that this light could be 
drawn down from the skies, and when he heard a 
laugh at this, he set to work to prove it. He 
sent his son out one day in a storm, with a kite in 
his hand. As a low black cloud went by, they 
saw the fierce light tear through it ; it would seem 
that the light ran down the string of the kite. 
Frank-lin had put a key on this string, and when 
he made his friends touch that key, they drew 
sparks from it. So they saw that he had found out 



92 History of the United States. 

a great thing ; and from that has come the plan of 
the rods that are now put on a house to keep it safe 
in a storm. This gave him fame here and in the rest 
of the world. He was sent to France and made 
strong friends for us there. He is said to have 
done more good works for his land than all the 
rest of the men of his time. So it is not strange 
that all felt sad when death took him from us. 

The French, too, met in their great hall to 
mourn his loss ; and one of their chiefs said, *' The 
sage whom two worlds claim as their own is dead ;" 
and they wore crape on their arms for three days, 
for his sake. 

While Wash-ing-ton had the rule of the land, 
more new States came in. The first of these was 
Ver-mont. This State was full of green hills and 
strong brave men, who had cut down the trees and 
made homes there. Once New York laid claim to 
this land, but they could not drive these brave men 
out. They thought they had a right to the soil, and 
they sent a man, by name E-than Al-len, to talk 
with the men of New York. He was met with 
gibes and sneers, but he would not yield. He said 
to them in words from the good Book, ''Our gods 
are gods of the hills, so they are more strong than 
yours." 

So when the men from New York came to 



I7t Times of Peace. 93 

drive out those who had made homes in the midst 
of these hills, they found a stout foe. The Ver- 
mont boys would take those who came and tie them 
to trees and whip them with rods from the beech 
trees. To this they gave the name of "the beech 
seal;" and those from New York did not care to 
have the "beech seal" put on them more than once. 
They grew mad, of course, and they sent out bills 
in which they set forth that they would give a good 
price for the head of E-than Al-len. But in time 
peace was made in these two States, when they had 
fought side by side in the great war. And so Ver- 
mont was brought in and took that name, which 
means "Green Hills." 

The next State that came in was Ken-tuck-y. 
This land was next to Vir-gin-ia, and for a time 
held to be a part of that State. The first man who 
made his way through its wild woods and hills was 
Dan-iel Boone, who had won a name for the way 
he could go in to the nooks and glens and trap wild 
beasts for their fur. He took a small band of men 
with him, and they had no fear, but went far in 
where man had not yet trod, to hunt or fish, or 
make salt at the "Salt Licks" or springs. He built 
forts and held them with his few friends for quite a 
time, spite of the red men. But once they took him 
and bound him, and thought they could make him 



^4 Histoiy of the United States. 

one of them ; so much did they Hke his strength 
and pluck, but he got free. When men heard of 
his brave deeds, more came to help him. The most 
of them were from Vir-gin-ia, and brought their 
slaves with them. 

The In-di-ans were in a rage at all this new 
force, and made the best fight they could to drive 
them from the soil ; so that whole land came to be 
known as the '' Dark Land of Blood." In time, 
peace was made, and the land grew to a State by 
the name of Ken-tuck-y. 

Wash-ing-ton held his post for two terms, or 
eight years, and he did not wish to serve more. So 
John Ad-ams was the choice of all, for the next 
chief of our land. 



CHAPTER IX. 



NEW MEN AND NEW LAWS. 



John Ad-ams was one of the men who gave his 
help to write out the " Dec-la-ra-tion of In-de-pend- 
ence," of which you have been told. That was, as 
you know, the first step to make us free. In it we 
had made known that we would make our own 
laws, and no one should rule us but those in our 
own land. John Ad-ams had gone to France at 
the end of the great war, and had been one to help 
make the French our friends. In his time. Wash- 
ing-ton was made the home of the Pres-i-dents. 

This town took its name from our great chief, 
and he was the one to pick out a place for the new 
site. This home we call the White House. At 
this time France did not seem to hold to the old 
ties that had made us friends. When our men 
were sent to her courts, she would not hear them, 
and there were some sea fights with our ships. It 
would seem that a new war must come out of this, 
and Wash-ing-ton had a call from his home to take 
the head of the troops. But there was no war, for 
Na-po-le-on, a young man, who had shown great tact 



96 History of the United States. 

and strength, got things in his own hands in France, 
and we made peace through him with the French. 

There were some who did not hke John 
Ad-ams, for the laws that he made. One of these 
laws gave him the right to seize and send out of 
our States those who came here from strange lands, 
though none could prove they had done wrong. 
So, though he was a great man, he did not get votes 
for a new term. 

And now the hour had come when Wash-ing- 
ton must die. All felt how much they were in debt 
to him, for the way he had led them in the war, and 
his wise rule in time of peace. He had made all 
men his friends in the end, and in the great hall at 
Wash-ing-ton, it was then said — the words live to 
this day, that he was '' First in war, first in peace, 
and first in the hearts of all." He was sick a long 
time ; and his last words were : '' I die hard, but I 
do not fear to go ! " 

No new States came in while Ad-ams had the 
rule ; but the land grew in worth, and more homes 
were made here. But there was a great stretch of 
wild land still, where the bears and the wolves could 
prowl in the woods at will, and no s-moke from the 
fire on a home hearth was seen in the air. 

Jef-fer-son was the third man whom the land 
chose to be their chief. He was well known as one 



New Men and New Laws. 97 

of the first to frame the Dec-Ia-ra-tion. At this 
time there was a war of France with Eng-land, and 
we had hard work to keep clear of both. For 
France had made a law that we should not help 
her foe ; and Eng-land had done the same. And 
both sides would take our ships at sea, if they 
thought they made trade with the foe. So our 
ships had hard times, and did not know what way 
to steer, lest one should seize them and take all they 
had on board. More than this, Eng-land said she 
had a right to search our ships and see if we had 
her men on board of them, and to take such if 
found. And once or twice it came to pass, that 
they took the whole crew of a ship, so that there 
was not a man left in it to sail it. 

One day a man-of-war went to search one of our 
ships for men, they said, who had run from them. 
They were in sight of one of our forts ; but when 
our men would not let the search be made, a fire 
was made on our ship, and they took four of the 
men, and hung one of them. This was bad for our 
trade, and made a great stir in our midst, and woke 
up the old wrath at Eng-land. 

So Con-gress, with a wish to give Eng-land tit 
for tat, as you would say, made a law that we should 
not trade with her, and our ships should not go out 
of our own ports. But this, you know, hurt us more 



q8 History of the United States. 

than it hurt Eng-land ; and, for a time, Jef-fer-son 
came in for a share of the hard thoughts, as though 
it were all his fault. Those whose trade had been 
hurt by the law felt as if he had been to blame, and 
the cause of loss to them. There were, too, on the 
sea a band of sea thieves, as we might call them. 
They were men who came from a wild race, far off, 
who would seize ships when they could, and take 
all the crew and hold them for slaves, till their 
friends would pay a good price for them. It was 
no strange thing in those days to hear read out in 
church the names of those who were slaves to such 
men. Great sums of gold were sent to set our 
men free. At last we made some terms with these 
thieves of the sea, but they would not keep the 
peace. 

Then John Ad-ams sent out four ships to fight 
these men. We did not own but six war ships in 
those days. One of these had the bad luck to run 
on the shore in that strange land, so the foe took it, 
and the crew were made slaves. There was a 
brave young man in one of our ships, who made a 
plan to get back the lost boat, which had the same 
name as the town of " Phil-a-del-phia." He thought 
if we could not get her from the foe it would be best 
to burn her, so that they could not use her for their 
own ends. So he took a small boat which had 




w 

Q 



X 

Pi 



H 
O 

iz; 

I 

H 

I 

U 

I 

w 
o 



lOO History of the United States. 

been won from the foe in a fight, and put some of 
our own men in her, and stole up to the side of the 
" Phil-a-del-phia" by night. If he was seen — it was 
thought to be a boat load of friends — but they soon 
went to work, and when they got on board, the fight 
was short and fierce. The "Phil-a-del-phia" was 
theirs in no time ; but they found they could not 
move her, so they set her on fire, and set sail once 
more, and did not lose a man. All this won a 
name and fame for the young man, whose name 
was De-ca-tur, and in time there grew up such a 
fear of him in those wild States that they were glad 
to make peace and take no more slaves. 

Jef-fer-son's mode of life was not like Wash-ing- 
ton's had been. He did not care for fine things or 
a state-coach, but was plain in all his ways. He 
did not go to the House in a coach and six, but 
rode on a horse which he would tie to a post while 
he went in to read his speech. In time he did not 
go at all, but sent the speech to be read by some 
one, and so it is done in our day. He had no state 
times for the folk to come and see him ; but on 
New Year's day and the Fourth of July his doors 
were flung wide, and all might call who had the 
wish to do so. He did not let men know when 
his birth day came, so that no feasts should be kept, 
and odes made on it. He made the debt of the 



New Mcii and New Laws. 



lOI 



land less in his time. He thought that all men had 
a right to vote, and at that time there were those 
who did not hold such views. 

There was one great law that came to pass in 
Jef-fer-son's_ time. This was to keep out the slave 
trade. This trade tore the black man from his 
home, and sold him to those who would pay the 
most. He must 
leave his wife, his 
boys and girls, and 
see them no more, 
and be brought in 
the dark hold ot a 
ship to a strange 
land, where he did 
not know their 
speech. Here he 
must work at his 
strange tasks, with 
no hope and no joy 
in his life. Jef-fer-son felt that the slave trade was 
wrong, and he had the wish to see it brought to an 
end. He thought it gave us a bad name. But 
there were those in Con-gress who did not feel in 
that way. They said if it was right to hold slaves 
at all, it could not be wrong to bring them here. 
So the talk grew fierce, some on this side and some 




SLAVES IN FIELD OF SUGAR CANE. 



[02 History of the United States. 

on that ; but, in the end, the law was made. Spite 
of this law, the trade went on by stealth for years, 
though the ships of more lands than one came to 
the aid of the slaves to break up this bad trade. 
In the States there was no law to say that slaves 
should not be bought and sold, and so this went on 
till the last war. 

One grand thing that came to be made in the 
time of Jef-fer-son was the steam boat. There were 
ships with sails, and boats that went by oars, but 
none that went by steam. The first one that was 
made would go four miles an hour ; but it was not 
on the same plan as those we have now. The first 
made like those now in use, was built by Rob-ert 
Ful-ton, in 1807. Men then had not much faith 
in it, and would laugh at it as they do at most new 
things. Ful-ton said no one spoke a kind word of 
it ; but when they came to see the launch, and took 
note of its speed, those who came to mock were 
glad to cheer. 

The first steam boat made on his plan was the 
'' Cler-mont," and went at the rate of five miles an 
hour, spite of wind and tide. As it went on its 
way, it sent such a great mass of sparks up in the 
air, and the noise of its wheels was so loud that 
when the crews of the ships that came in its way 
saw it, they would drop on their knees in fright. 



New Men and New Laws. 



103 



and pray to be kept safe from this strange thing. 
But, in time, more were made, and men saw that 
there was naught to fear in these great steam boats, 




FUL-TOn's " CLER-MONT 



STEAM-ER. 



though they did seem to breathe out fire and smoke. 
Still, at first, they did not dare to cross the sea in 
them. 

There was a great tract of land in the west, 
which Jef-fer-son bought for the U-nit-ed States 
from the French. Part of it is now known as the 
State of Lou-i-si-ana, and took its name from the 
French King. One of the great streams of the 
world runs through it. Do you know its name ? 

Jef-fer-son sent men to find out all they could of 



I04 History of the United States. 

this land he had bought ; what kind of tribes oi red J 
men were in it, what wild beasts were in the wood, ^ 
and what sort of plants grew there. These men 
took with them food, fire arms, and gifts for the 
chiefs of the red men. They were gone two or three 
years ; and made their camps in the woods, when 
the cold and storm were so great they could not go 
on. They went up the great stream to the falls 
where no white man had been, and then they went 
on and found the source of the stream. They wrote 
of all they saw, and men read it in their homes. 
They read of new tribes of red men ; of herds of 
wild beasts, so large that one herd would take up a 
stream a mile wide. They said some of tribes were 
poor, but some had good homes and fine steeds, 
which they would sell for a few beads. They 
found, too, they could make a great trade for furs 
with these tribes. There was one man who made 
a post for this trade. It is said he bought furs by 
the weight, and would put his hand or foot in the 
scale, and call it a pound. You may think how 
much fur it would take to weigh them down. 

The next chief of our land was James Mad-i- 
son. When he came in, he found that men were 
once more in a state of wrath with Eng-land. You 
see they felt it hard that our ships should have to 
let Eng-land stop them and search them as she 



New Men arid New Laws. 105 

chose. So at last it came to war, and at first we 
did not win at all. The red men took part with 
our foe ; and one chief, by name of Te-cum-seh, 
made a plan to join all the tribes of In-di-ans in 
war on the whites. He took part in all the fights, 
and made a brave stand, but he fell at last. 

Though we did not win much on land, we had 
ofood luck on the sea. We took one of Eno^-land's 
ships ; but then they in turn took one of ours, and a 
brave man, who fought with his crew at the head of 
it, fell, shot with his death wound. '' Don't give up 
the ship ! " was his cry with his last breath. 

These words, '' Don't give up the ship," were 
put on a flag, which was held in a great fight that 
took place at that time. There were nine ships on 
our side, and six on the side of the foe. 

This flag was put on our flag ship, and a brave 
man fought for it. His name was Per-ry. The 
flag ship was lost ; but Per-ry flew to a small boat 
with his flag, and got to the next ship. He fought 
so well that he won the day, and the Brit-ish lost 
all their six ships. Such a thing had not been 
known till that time. When the Brit-ish gave up, 
Per-ry wrote, " We have met the foe, and they are 
ours ! 

There was war for three years ; and in the last 
year the Brit-ish took some of our towns on the 



io6 History of the United States. 

coast south, and set fire to the State Hall and Pres- 
i-dent's house at Wash-ing-ton. They made a raid 
on New Or-leans, but we had a man there who 
built up miles of bales for a sort of breast works, 
and fought back of them with our troops, so they 
did not get that town ; and this was the last fight 
of the war. 

Peace was made, and both sides were glad to 
sign it. From this time the Eng-lish laid claim to 
no right of search in our ships. This was know^n 
for a time as the "" Late War," but since then we 
have had more wars, so it would not do to call it 
by that name now. But from that day we have 
had peace with Eng-land, and may it long last. 

Now came a time of peace when the land grew, 
and men went west and made homes, and built 
flour mills, and cut down trees, so that in a short 
time a wild place would change in to a town ; and 
you would see a church spire point up to the sky, 
and a school with its crowd of young ones at their 
tasks. 



CHAPTER X. 



THE SLAVE TRADE. 



Mad-i-son had two terms of rule, and then 
Mon-roe was the next choice of the land. He 
had fought in the great war, and had a high place 
in the States. He had shown that he was a brave 
man, and was the one sent to France when our land 
bought Lou-i-si-ana. 

When he was made Pres-i-dent, he made a tour 
of all the posts north and east, to see what strength 
they would have in case of war. He wore a blue 
coat that was home-spun, and was plain in all his 
dress. He won the hearts of all by his frank ways. 
He met all men as friends, and had no pride and 
pomp to keep them far off; he was as one of them. 
He thought more of the good of his land than his 
own. One said of him, " If we could turn his soul 
in side out, not a spot could be found on it." When 
he came to die, he was poor in purse but rich in a 



good name. 



The red men were not at peace in his time, and 
there was one more cause of strife, and that was the 
slaves. Since the first ship load of slaves had been 



io8 History of the United States. 

brought in, the trade had grown more and more at 
the South. The men at the North had grown to 
hke this trade less and less. It had been thought 
at first it would soon die out, but they saw this 
would not be the case. At last there was a strife 
each time that a State, that held slaves, would want 
to come in. The free States would cry out that it 
was wrong to have more slave States. 

Those at the South said that when a free State 
was brought in, there ought to be a slave State too, 
or else the North would grow too strong, and have 
things all their own way. And so there was a fight 
when the time came for the State of Mis-sou-ri to 
come in. I do not mean that they went to war with 
shot and shell. This was a war of words. The 
North said that it was wrong to buy and sell men, 
and to break up homes ; that it was bad for the men 
who held slaves, and for those in bonds, and that 
the first men of the land had the wish to get rid of 
it. The South said that if the great men of the 
land had the wish to get rid of it, they still kept 
their own slaves ; that it was the best state for the 
black men ; that they could learn more than in their 
own wild land ; that white men could not work out 
of doors in the hot time, and so the crops could 
not be grown if the black man was made free. 

At last Con-gress let Mis-sou-ri come in as a 



The Slave Trade. 109 

slave State, but made a law that a line should be 
drawn in the land. North of this line there could 
be no slaves. South of it men could keep slaves or 
not, just as they chose ; men look on this now as a 
weak move. At that time the slaves were few, and 
the trade not great, so it might have been put down 
with more ease. But with time it grew so strong 
that it took long years and a great war to crush it 
out. Five new States came in while Mon-roe was 
at the head of the land. 

John Quin-cy Ad-ams came next. He was the 
son of the Pres-i-dent of the same name, and had 
been nine years old when he heard the Dec-la-ra- 
tion read from the State House in Bos-ton. Since 
then the land had grown to a vast size, and was at 
peace. Much was done in his time to make our 
land thrive and grow. The red men were made to. 
move west, and their lands were bought. 

In his time, the first rail road was built. It was 
but three miles long, and it was a horse that drew the 
car and not steam. The first use of steam came in 
more late from Eng-land. The first steam car did not 
make much speed ; but it was thought to be a great 
thing. Still there were those who said it would not 
be worth much ; that it could not draw its own 
weight, but that its wheels would spin round and 
round on the rail. Some thought that if it were 



1 lO 



History of the United States. 



made to go, it would be bad for the farms ; would 
scare off the cows and sheep, and the smoke would 
make the sheep's wool black. But their fears were 

laid at rest in 
time by the 
sight of these 
cars as they 
ran on in peace, 
and brought 
none of these 
ills to pass. 

In the same 
year the land 
had to mourn 
the death of 
two great men. 
Strange to say, 
they went on the same day, and that was the Fourth 
of July. Both these men had put their names on 
the great Dec-la-ra-tion, and they had grown to be 
strong friends. Jef-fer-son heard the fire of a gun, 
just as he went. His last words were, '' Is this 
the Fourth?" 

Ad-ams, who lay near to death, saw the sun set 
and heard the shouts from those who kept the day 
in his town. He sent them word to hold fast the 
rights that day had brought them ; and the old 




FIRST STEAM EN-GINE. 



The Slave Trade. 1 1 1 

man could hear the cheer that they gave at his 
words. 

At this time there was a great talk of a sort of 
tax to be put on all goods brought here from far 
lands. This we call a tar-iff, and we hear a great 
deal of it in this day. There are those who think a 
high tax should be put on all goods made out of 
our own land, so as to keep them out and give those 
made here a chance. There are some who think 
that all trade should be free ; and that ships should 
sail here with what they choose and land it, with 
no one to see what it is, and put a tax on it. 

Ad-ams, in his time, was for a high tax, and 
for this cause he did not have but one term as our 
chief. Those who did not want the tax had the 
most votes, and they chose An-drew Jack-son for 
the next man. He had been well known in the 
war, and had built up those breast works in New 
Or-leans of which we have told you, from which 
our men beat the Brit-ish. 

While he was chief, there were some in the 
South who felt that the North had more than its 
share of the wealth of the land. You see there 
were more great mills and more goods made in the 
North, and the tax on strange goods was too much 
help to those at home. At least this was so thought 
by the South, and they had a plan to cut loose and 



1 1 2 History of the United States. 

set up a new band of States. They had drills of 
their young men, and got arms, and had made 
choice of a man to lead them. His name was John 
C. Cal-houn, and he was to be their first chief. 
But Jack-son said that '' if a State could go out of 
the band of States when it chose, we would come 
to naught ; " and he sent troops and ships of war to 
the South, and put a stop to all the stir in a short 
time. 

Tribes of the red men had gone out to the far 
West, but there were those who would not move. 
There was a tribe in Flor-i-da who fought for a 
long time in the swamps of that land. Some slaves 
who had run away from their homes were with 
them. One of the chiefs of the red men had a 
slave for a wife, and when she went with him to 
one of our forts, she was held and kept as a slave, 
and the chief was put in chains. When he got 
free, he made a vow to pay up the white man for 
all he had borne, and for the loss of his wife. So 
he led the red men in this war. His name was 
Os-ce-o-la. He was caught at last, and kept in one 
of our forts till he died. But the war went on for 
years, at a great cost of life, till few of that tribe 
were left in the land. And this war cost three times 
as much as had been paid for the whole of the State 
of Flor-I-da. 



The Slave Trade. 1 1 3 

This war had so much to do with slaves, that 
all the talk on the slave trade came up once more. 
There was a man of that class of which we have 
told you — one of the Friends, or Quak-ers, who put 
in print his views, that some plan should be made 
by which all slaves should be freed in time. 

Then a young man, by name of Gar-ri-son, wrote 
that the best way was to set all free at once. This 
made a great stir, and some said he should be 
brought to court and made to take back his words. 
But he said, '' I will speak out what I feel. I will 
not go back an inch, and I will be heard." And 
just at this time, to make things worse, and stir up 
great fear in the land, a slave in Vir-gin-ia, got a 
mob of black men, and they went from house to 
house and put all to death who came in their way. 

Gar-ri-son did not like war, and he would not 
have blood shed ; but there were those who laid all 
the fault of this at his door. They said he taught 
the slave he had a right to be free, and so this black 
man rose and took his rights. The slave who had 
done so much harm was at last caught, and put in 
jail and then hung. 

Jack-son thought it would be well for Con-gress 
to pass a bill, that no thing on the slave trade 
should go through the mails ; but that bill did not 
pass. Some were made friends to Jack-son by this 



114 History of the United States. 

strong course, when the South had a plan to break 
up our States, and leave the North ; but, of course, 
there were those who did not like him for the same 
cause. He had both strong friends and foes ; but 
made so good a rule, that he put the land out of 
debt, and had a sum left to share with the States. 
Much new land was bought in his time. 

Jack-son was a great man. He had come from 
poor folks, and as a boy he was more fond of sports 
than of books. His life had its ups and downs. 
Once he was in the hands of the foe, and told he 
must clean some boots for them. It was too much 
for a free born A-mer-i-can to clean Brit-ish boots. 
It made his blood boil, and he said with scorn that 
he would not do such work. He was not mild or 
meek, you know, but had a strong will of his own. 
And he kept his word spite of blows, and was sent 
to jail. There the poor boy had small pox. He 
knew not where to turn when he got out of jail, for 
he was poor, and had no one left to help him. He 
had more than one fight in his time, and scars that 
he did not gain in war. He was brave through 
and through, and won fame where he went. He 
was in his old home when he drew his last breath 
in peace. 

When Mar-tin Van Bu-ren came in, the talk on 
the slave trade grew worse. A slave child by the 



The Slave Trade. 115 

name of Med, who had been brought to Bos-ton 
by a man, was said to be free by the Court of that 
State, as she had trod on free soil. But at the same 
time some of the dames who met to take the slaves' 
part, were set on by a mob, and Gar-ri-son, who 
stood up to make them a speech, was bound with 
ropes. Then this fierce mob set to work to drag 
him through the streets ; but some friends got hold 
of him, and had to lodge him in jail to save his life. 
Two schools for the blacks were set on fire ; and 
one man in the West, who was a great friend of the 
slave, met his death at the hands of a mob. 

Just at this time there was a plan to bring in 
Tex-as as a slave State, and this shook the land 
from North to South. Long pleas with the names 
of a great mass of folks were sent to Con-gress, to 
beg them not to let Tex-as come in as a slave State. 
John Quin-cy Ad-ams, it is said, spoke an hour a 
day for twelve days, on the side of those who would 
make Tex-as a free State. They put off the strife 
at that time, and did not bring Tex-as in at all. 
Con-gress made a rule, that no bills that spoke of 
slaves should be brought in, and this was in force 
for ten years. 

In Van Bu-ren's time there was a great crash 
in trade, and hard times in the land. He did not 
make the hard times, still he had but one term for 



1 1 6 History of the United States. 

that cause. Men felt a hope that a new man might 
bring in a new state of things. They chose Har-ri- 
son, who had fought in a brave way in the wars 
with the red men. 

He came from the far West, where his home had 
once been in a log house. So he had the name of 
the Log Cabin man, and the poor men in the land 
all felt proud that one of their own kind was their 
chief; one who had made his way out of the ranks. 
There was a print of that log cabin on all sorts of 
things, and toys were made in that form, and songs 
were made on it, and sung when men met. 

The new Pres-i-dent did not live but one month, 
and so for the rest of the four years, John Ty-ler 
took the rule ; but he did not please those who had 
cast their votes for him. He would not let their 
bills pass : one of which was to form a States Bank, 
on which the Whigs had all set their hearts. The 
State of Tex-as was brought in at this time. 

You have all seen the wires which stretch from 
pole to pole in the streets of our great towns, and 
in lone roads by field and wood. You know what 
they are for, and how by means of them you can 
send word to a friend in time of need, or hear from 
those you love in a flash. It may be a death that 
is told, or some news of joy that they can not wait 
to send by the slow way of the post. 



The Slave Trade. 



117 




Well, when James K. Polk was thought of as a 
good man to make chief of the land, the news was 
the first that had been sent on these wires. The 
first lines built were made here, 
and went from Bal-ti-more to 
Wash-ing-ton. Morse was the 
name of the man who found out 
how to send news on wires in 
this way. 

At this time there were two 
great men of whom you should 
hear, for their names are on the 
list of fame, which has stood the 
test of time. One was Hen-ry 
Clay. He was born in the West, and was poor, but 
' he made his way from the small log school house, 
where he went to learn his first task, to rank with 
the great men of our land. He could win men to 
be his friends, when they had made up their minds 
to hate him. He had a strong will, and kept true 
to his own aims. He spoke with such grace and 
force that he could sway men's minds and thrill 
their hearts. He has said, '' I owe all I have won in 
life to one fact, that when I was a boy, and for some 
years, as I grew up, I would learn and speak what 
I read in books. More than one off hand speech 
did I make in a corn field or in the woods, or in a 



SAM-UEL F. B. MORSE. 



1 1 8 History of the United States. 

barn, with but an ox or horse to hear me. It is to 
this I owe much that has gone to shape and mould 
my course in hfe." 

One man, who was not his friend, said at his 
death, '* If I were to write on the stone that marks 
his place of rest, I would place there these words : 
' Here lies one who led men by his own force for 
long years ; but did not swerve from the truth, or 
call in lies to help him.'" 

One more great man died on the same day as 
Clay. His name was Web-ster. He was a great 
states man. He went to school but a few weeks in 
all his life. He was then so shy that he could not 
pluck up heart to speak a piece in the school. He 
did not think that in time to come his words would 
stir the land. He says, " I was brave in my own 
room, and would learn the piece and speak it there ; 
but when the day came, and I would see all eyes 
turn to me, and they would call out my name, I 
could not rise from my seat." 

In all things but this he stood well at school, 
and he had a great wish to learn. But he knew 
they were all poor at home, and he felt that he 
must go to work and help them, fond as he was of 
his books. When he heard that he was to go on ; 
that he should have a chance to make his dream 
true, he was full of joy. '' I see yet," he said, ''the 



The Slave Trade. 1 1 9 

great hill up which we went that day in the snow. 
When I heard the news, I could not speak for 
joy. There were such a crowd of young ones in 
our home, I did not see how they could spare 
the funds. A warm glow ran through me ; I had 
to weep." 

When he was through school, he at once rose to 
a high place. He was at the head of all who spoke 
in the House. He was grand and great, but he 
had a sense of fun in him. Once some one came 
to him with one of those books where the names of 
friends or great men are kept, with the wish that he 
would write his name by the side of John Ad-ams. 
He wrote : 

'' If by his name I write my own, 
'Twill take me where I am not known ; 
And the cold words will meet my ear. 
Why, friend, and how did you come here?" 

When his death was known, there was grief in 
the length and breadth of the land. No death 
since that of Wash-ing-ton was made such a theme 
for speech. 



CHAPTER XL 



A NEW WAR. 



In the time of James K. Polk, a war rose in 
which our States were not of one mind. Our folk 
in Tex-as laid claim to a large tract of land which 
those in Mex-i-co said was theirs. The States at 
the North did not wish to go in to this war; but 
those at the South did. This was in 1846. Gen- 
er-al Tay-lor went with his troops at once in to the 
land of the foe, and built a fort on a stream there. 
He gave it the name of Fort Brown. On his way 
he met the troops of the foe drawn up in the road. 
They had three to one of his small band ; but he 
had the good luck to rout them, with loss of but 
nine men on our side. 

Then he took up his march on their great town, 
which had the name of Mon-te-rey. This town had 
high hills and deep gulfs round it, and strong forts. 
Its streets were full of men with arms. Gen-er-al 
Tay-lor made a grand move on the town. To get 
out of the fire that would seem to pour on them 
from the roofs, the troops went in and dug their 
way through stone walls from house to house, or 




( 



CAP-TURE OF MON-TE-REY. 



122 History of the United States. 

they would pass from roof to roof. Ere they came 
to the grand place of the town, it was in their hands, 
the foe gave up the fight. 

At this time San-ta An-na, who was chief of the 
Mex-i-can troops, heard that most of our men had 
been drawn off to help Gen-er-al Scott ; so he thought 
it would be a good time to crush us. They laid 
in wait with all their best troops, and the fight went 
on from the rise of the sun till dark. It grew hard 
to hold our ground, and the day would have been 
lost but for the guns of Cap-tain Bragg, who came 
to our help. He made a dash up to a few yards 
from the foe, and let fire. Their ranks were seen 
to shake. '' Some more grape. Cap-tain Bragg," said 
Gen-er-al Tay-lor. One more round, and then a 
third came, and the Mex-i-cans broke and fled. In 
the night San-ta An-na drew all his troops off. 

Gen-er-al Scott, at the head of our troops, made 
a march through the land of Mex-i-co, and took all 
that came in his way. He drew siege lines round 
the town of Ve-ra Cruz, and sent bombs in to it, and 
in four days the town, with its strong hold, gave up 
the fight. A week from that time our troops took 
up their march for the chief town. At one pass in 
the hills, the foe had a strong hold. Gen-er-al Scott 
had a road cut round the base of those hills and 
through the woods ; and then he was in a place to 



A New War. 123 

pour out fire on the rear of the foe, while more 
troops took him in front. The foe fled in such 
haste that San-ta An-na, who was lame, left his leg 
of wood on the ground, and got off on his wheel 
mule. 

The town of Mex-i-co is in the midst of a grand 
plain, with green fields and cloud capt mounts round 
it. The foe had made a strong stand here, with 
forts and men. Our men made a move in the 
night. It was so dark they had to feel their way; 
but they took their stand on a height from which 
they could storm the strong points of the foe. At 
last they took some of the guns, and the roads were 
laid bare to the gates of the town. 

There was some talk of a peace then, but Gen- 
er-al Scott found that it was not in good faith. The 
foe did it to gain time, to make things strong once 
more. So the next day, he took up his march on 
the great town of Mex-i-co. A strong fort, on a 
high rock by the town, was made ours ; each out 
work fell one by one, and at last our troops took the 
great Ci-ty of Mex-i-co, and the next morn our flag 
with its stripes and stars was seen to float in the 
light from those grand old piles, which had been 
the home of more than one prince of Mex-i-co. So 
the war came to an end in just two years. 

Till this time, Cal-i-for-nia had been known as a 



124 



History of the United States. 



far off land, to which men went by sea, round Cape 
Horn, to buy hides and fur. But in 1848, came 
news to the East-ern States that there were gold 
mines in that place. It was said that a Swiss had 
found, as he dug in the sand, a bright sort of dust, 
and it was thought to be gold. All at once, on this 
news, there was a great rush from all parts of the 
land to the gold mines of Cal-i-for-nia, and there 
was a great sum won the first year. In two years 




i.'W.OVSi- \» 



SAN FRAN-CIS-CO IN 1 849. 



the town of San Fran-cis-co had grown to quite a 
large place. The name of Cal-i-for-nia is said to 
have been found in an old book in Spain, and 
means an isle full of gold. 

Three more States were brought in while Polk 



A New War. 125 



was our chief, and two of them were free States. 
It was shown that those who came to us from the 
old world, chose the free States for their homes, and 
those at the South felt sure that the North would 
grow too fast if they did not gain more ground. 
There was a great piece of land which both North 
and South laid claim to, and there were high words 
on both sides. At last a band of men by the name 
of Free Soil men, took a stand that slaves should 
be kept out of all new land which the U-nit-ed 
States might gain in all time to come. 

The next man who was the choice of the land 
was Tay-lor, the one who led part of our troops in 
the war with Mex-i-co. He was put in by the 
Whigs. The Free Soil men did not vote for him. 
He did not live but one year, and then Fill-more 
took his place. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE WAR OF NORTH AND SOUTH. 

Once more the talk on free States and slave 
States was heard on all sides, and Hen-ry Clay had 
made more than one great speech to try and keep 
the peace. Cal-i-for-nia came in as a free State ; 
but a bill went in force which made it a crime to 
help or keep a slave who had run off from his home. 
A man could go in to a free State and take back 
his slave by force, and no court or Judge in the 
land could stop him. In fact, they were bound to 
help him. This was thought harsh and wrong by 
most of the men at the North ; but it was made a 
law. This law made more stir than aught else had 
done till this time. Men would help the slaves, 
spite of the law ; and in some States they made 
laws of their own, that no one could claim a slave 
if he did not bring the case in to court, that they 
might see if he had a just claim. 

When Pierce was made Pres-i-dent, the strife 
still went on ; and this was made worse by a wish 
on the part of those who held slaves to bring them 
North of the line, in to a great tract of land — so 



The War of North and South. 1 2 7 

large that two States could be made out of it — Kan- 
sas and Ne-bras-ka. 

The South said all they would ask, would be 
that those who had their homes on the soil should 
say how they would like things to be, and put it to 
vote. Con-gress did at last pass a bill to give them 
their own choice, to be free or slave States. But 
this did not bring peace ; for they had fights when 
they went to vote. At last they were all at war, 
and would burn a town or sack a house, or steal the 
cows and goods of those they thought foes. The 
whole land was a scene of blood, but in the end 
Kan-sas was brought in as a free State. 

In the time of Pierce a great tract of land was 
bought from Mexico. It is now known as New 
Mex-i-co. In his time, too, trade with Japan was 
first made free to our ships. 

When Bu-chan-an came to take the place of 
chief in our land, the talk on the slaves was by no 
means at rest. In the great Court of our land, the 
'' Dred Scott" case was brought up in the first year 
of his rule, and it was said that those who held 
slaves had the right to take them with them where 
they chose, through all the free States. Then came 
John Brown's raid, which was like a fire brand in 
all the slave States. 

John Brown was a man who had fought on the 



128 History of the United States, 

side of the Free Soil men in Kan-sas, and now all 
was at peace there. He had a plan to go in to the 
slave States and free the slaves. He had been in 
Vir-gin-ia when he was a boy, and knew there were 
strong holds in the hills, where he thought the 
slaves could make a stand and fight till they were 
free. He got a small band of men and went to a 
place by the name of Har-per's Fer-ry, and took 
the town. Those who had their homes there fled 
in fright ; so he took the great place where arms 
were made for our troops. He thought he would 
give these arms to the black men, whom he had 
no doubt would flock to his side. He had a small 
force, but fear made all think it was a great one. The 
news of the raid went like a flash on the wires to all 
parts of the States, and men were sent to fight him 
and take him. His small force were brave, and did 
not give up till death or wounds made them do so. 

It is' said by those who held him as their foe, 
that John Brown was cool and firm in the face of 
death. With one son dead by his side, and one 
shot through, he felt the pulse of the son so near to 
death with one hand, but held fast to his gun, and 
spoke words of cheer to his men. He fell at last 
with six wounds, but did not die of them. He was 
brought in to Court, and they set to work to try 
him. The head man of Vir-gin-ia, by the name of 



The IVar of North and South. 



129 



Wise, said, "Those who think John Brown is a 
macl man, do not know^ him. He is a man of clear 
head and a brave heart. I would trust him to be a 
man of truth." 

But he was led out to be hung. On his way 
there, his last act was to kiss a slave child. Six of 
his friends were hung 
on the same spot. 
Some few of the band 
got off to the free 
States. All this made 
the talk of North and 
South on the slave 
trade more and more 
fierce; and when a 
new man was to be 
made Pres-i-dent, 
those who went for 
free soil, that is, no 
slaves, chose their 
own man, and he got 
the most votes. These 
Free Soil men had grown to be a large throng, and 
they had a new name. The man they chose was 
A-bra-ham Lin-coln. He was a man who would 
have been glad to have kept the peace ; but the 
South would not have it so. They were in a rage, 




A-BRA-HAM LIN-COLN. 



I30 



History of the United States. 




BAN-NER OF SOUTH 
CAR-0-Ll-NA. 



and said they would go out of the band of States. 

They thought a State had the right to go out if it 

chose to do so. This was " States 
Rights" to their mind. 

''States Rights" had long been 
held as the creed of the South ; so 
there were six States that put it to 
vote, and said they would go out of 
the U-nion. South Car-o-li-na was 
the one to lead the way. They said 
they would make a new band of 

States, where it would be right to hold slaves ; and 

they took one of 

our forts. 

Troops were 

sent in a boat, by 

name, "The Star 

of the West," but 

they were met by 

a fire from the 

fort. Then they 

took their stand 

on the shore by 

Fort Sum-ter, 

which was held 

by a few men. For two days the fire went on, and 

at last the brave man who held the fort had to give 




FORT SUM-TER. 



The War of North and South. 131 

it up. His men were worn out, the place was on 
fire, and they had no more food for their guns. So 
they went out with the beat of drums and their flags 
flung out on the air. 

The sound of the first gun at Fort Sum-ter was 
a shock to all the land. Most of those at the 
North, who had not lelt the slave trade to be 
wrong, now took sides with those who had been its 
foes from the first. All the States at the South 
took one side, but the slaves were for those who 
had the wish to make them free. 

In the first of this storm the end came of Bu- 
chan-an's term. Three States came in at this time. 
Or-e-gon, Min-ne-so-ta, and Kan-sas. The last two 
bear the name the red men gave two streams that 
flow through them. The name Or-e-gon is said to 
mean ''wild rice." 

Up to the time of the first gun fired at Fort Sum- 
ter, men had felt that the South could be brought 
back. Few at the North thought there would be 
war ; but at the South it had been thought of for 
a long time. The young men had met for drill, 
and arms had been hid where they could be found. 
Lin-coln found but a small band of troops, but he 
sent out a call for more. As these men were on 
their march through the streets of Bal-ti-more, the 
mob threw stones at them, and three of them fell 



132 History of the Uiiited States. 

dead. Then the troops let fire on the mob, and 
nine men fell. This made a great stir at the North, 
for they thought it went to show the hate in the 
hearts of the men at the South. 

' The next time the troops were sent, they did 
not march through Bal-ti-more. They found the 
rails torn up by the way, and had to mend them as 
they went on. Once when they saw a car that was 
a wreck by the way side, some one was heard to 
ask if one could be found in the ranks who could 
mend it. '' I can," said a man who stood by it, 
"for I built it." 

So you see the troops were made up of men 
from all trades, who had left their work to fight for 
their land. In the course of time, troops went in 
peace through the streets of Bal-ti-more. 

Men came in to the ranks on all sides when 
they heard the call ; but they found that arms were 
scarce, most had been sent South. So the North 
had to buy or make these in as short a time as they 
could. There had to be clothes made, too, for the 
troops, and food found for stores, and carts to draw it, 
and drugs for the sick. All must be done at once, 
and all in such a way that there must be no waste or 
want. Lin-coln at this time made a law that no 
ships should go in or out of the ports of the South. 

The war soon made a stand in both East and 



The War of North and South. 



133 



West Vir-gin-ia. In the west of this State there 
were men who did not wish to fight on the side of 




OFF TO THE WAR. 



the South ; but they had to do so or leave the State. 
There was a move made to march on Rich-mond ; 



134 



History of the United States. 



but the troops had to go back, and lost the day at 
the fight of Bull Run. It was a sad rout for the 
troops of the North, as they made haste back to 
Wash-ing-ton, with a fear that the foe might come 
and take that place. 

At the end of this year Gen-er-al Scott gave up 
his place at the head of all the troops to Gen-er-al 
Mc-Clel-lan. 

When this war broke out, we had but four ships 
in a good state to take part in it. Yet we were in 
need of a force that could block up the ports of the 
South. Eng-land and France gave help to the 
South, for they let them fit out ships in their ports, 

and all through the war the 
South was kept up by the hope 
of aid from these lands. 

A great fight took place at 
An-tie-tam, where the troops 
of Gen-er-al Mc-Clel-lan met 
those of Lee. This was one 
of the worst fights of the war, 
and there was great loss of life 
on both sides. The North 
won the day, and Lee drew 
off his troops. It was thought by some that a move 
in the right way would have cut short this flight, 
and they said Mc-Clel-lan ought to have made such 




GEN-ER-AL ROB-ERT E. LEE. 



The War of North and South. 



135 



a move. So Gen-er-al Burn-side took his place at 
the head of the troops, and he took the town of Fred- 
er-icks-burg. In 



. Kfi. 




the mean time there 

was a ship fight, in 

which the South for 

a time did good 

work. She had a 

ship which she had 

made strong with 

iron plates and hard 

wood, and a bow 

of steel. This ship 

set sail in the bay 

to fight the whole 

U-nion fleet. The ships of wood could make no 

stand. In vain did they pour out fire and balls. 

It was said the balls would strike and orlance off, and 



PICK-ETS ON DU-TY. 




MER-RI-MACK AND MON-1-iOR. 



136 



History of the United States. 



did no more harm than peas from a pop gun. At 
nine that night two of our ships had gone down in 
fire and smoke, and one was run on the ground. 

All at once a small queer thing came in sight. 
Some one said it was like a cheese box on a raft. 
This was the Mon-i-tor. When dawn came it bore 
down on the Mer-ri-mac and sent out a fire. The 
ram gave the fire back. For two hours the fire 
was kept up; till at last the Mon-i-tor sent a shell 
through the port hole of the foe. This fell right in 
the midst of her crew. So those in the Mer-ri-mac 
thought it would be wise to get out of the way of 
more such shells, and it left the coast clear. There 
was great joy felt at the North when the news 
came that they had won this fight ; for all had felt 
that if this ship, with its hard sides and bow 

of steel, had been left free to 
sail in to New York bay, all 
the ships of wood in our port 
would have gone down in her 
path. From the time of this 
fight, a great change has been 
made in the way they have 
built ships. 

Gen-er-al Grant fought in 
this war, and led our troops to 
win the day in more than one 




U-LYS-SES S. GRANT. 



The War of North and South. 



137 



fight. One of the great moves of the war was 
made on New Or-leans by Far-ra-gut in ships, 
and Gen-er-al But-ler with a land force. 




FAR-RA-GUT S SHIPS. 



This town had two strong forts, and there was 
a long chain with earth works at each end. There 
were fire rafts full of stuff that they could set on 
fire, and gun boats, and one 
of the kind we know as a 
ram. 

Far-ra-gut sent fire in to 
the forts in vain. His boats 
took fire from the rafts, and 
he had to put out each as 
it went by. At last, he 
thought he would try and 
run by the forts with his fleet, and he did so. The 
forts, the steam boats, and the ram, kept up a hot 
fire, but in the midst of shot and ball, he made 




LOOK OUT. 



138 



History of the United States. 



his way up the stream. The next day at dawn, he 
was in New Or-leans, and in a day more the fleets 
and forts were in his hands, and Gen-er-al But-ler, 
with a land force, came in to the town. 

In this year, 1862, Lin-coln sent out a bill that 
said '' the slaves should be free then, and for all 
time. 

And it was then thought that it would be a 
good thing for the black man to help in this war 
that had made him free. So there came to be 
black troops made up of the free slaves. By this 
time the cost of the war had grown great, and the 
U-nion side felt that it was time to bring things to 
a close. 

The South took heart and came with their troops 
in to a free State ; and a great fight took place near 

a town by the name of 

^ Get-tys-burg. There 

was great loss on both 

sides. But Lee had to 

fly with his men, and 

this fight put an end 

to the hopes of the 

South. At the time 

of the last shot in 

fight, Gen-er-al Grant, far off in Vicks-burg, 

brought the foe to terms. Vicks-burg was a 




AR-MY HUTS. 



this 
had 



The War of North and South. 139 

place on high bluffs, and It had guns on all sides to 
stop our ships on their way up the stream. It stood 
a long siege of more than a month, but at last it fell. 

But as time went on, it grew more and more 
hard to get men for the war. There had to be a 
draft, and the folks did not like that. In a draft, 
one has to draw a lot, and no one knew on whom 
the lot would fall. In New York there were some 
who felt a sort of spite at the black folks, as they 
held them to be the cause of the war, and there 
was a mob that set on them in the streets. It went 
on for three days, and some black men fell struck 
by stones from the mob. But at last it was brought 
to an end. 

The next year Grant made some good moves, 
and, on the whole, the sky grew more clear. Lin- 
coln said, " Peace does not seem so far off as it did. 
I hope it will come soon and come to stay, and 
come so that it will be worth all we have done 
for it." 

In 1864, Gen-er-al Grant was put at the head 
of all the troops. He had shown that he knew a 
great deal of war, and he had done good work. 
He soon made a plan of two great moves that 
should go on at the same time. One of these w^as 
to march on Rich-mond with one branch of the 
troops, while Gen-er-al Sher-man should take one 



140 



through 



History of the United States, 

the States of the South, from 



branch 
mount to sea. 

Gen-er-al Grant did not swerve from the course 
he had laid out. He said, '' I will fight it out on 

this Hne," and he did, spite of 
all loss. He laid siege to 
Rich-mond, but for a time 
they held out. At sea the 
ships of the South at first won 
on all sides. They drove our 
ships out, and got off with no 
harm, till the time that the 
Al-a-ba-ma was sunk. One 
more grand fight with ships 
took place in Mo-bile Bay. 
This bay was a great place for boats to run in with 
food and stores to the foe. Our ships could not 
make their way there, for there were two forts, a 
ram of great strength, and shells that would blow 
them up set in the way. Far-ra-gut put false bows 
on his ships, so that they might charge the ram, and 
at last it was sunk. 

Sher-man had a hard work to do ; for he must 
take his troops through the land of the foe, by their 
strong forts, through hill and dale and pass. He 
meant to cut off their chance to get food, and to 
break up the rail roads. He first took the town 




WIL-LIAM T. SHER-MAN. 



The War of Noi'th and South. 141 

of At-lan-ta, and from that point set out on the 
'' March to the Sea," which has won him so much 
fame. He had to feed his troops for the most part 
on what he could find in the land he went through. 
He took Sa-van-nah and wrote to Lin-coln, " I beg 
to give you the gift of the town of Sa-van-nah, with 
all its guns and stores." 

Then he took up his march once more through 
swamp and bog, or up the high steep hills and rocks. 
The cold days had come, but on they went, through 
storms of sleet and snow, or in the face of floods of 
rain, with a foe on all sides. Such a march had 
not been known in all the wars of the past. Long 
will the fame of that March to the Sea live in our 
land. He had found, as he said, that all the men 
in the South had been drawn out to aid the troops, 
and that there were no more left, and the land was 
a "mere shell." 

Charles-ton gave up at the end of a long siege ; 
but it was set on fire in all parts by its own folk, so 
that it might not be worth much when it fell in our 
hands. 

The last move was made by Grant on Rich- 
mond. He felt that one more blow would bring 
the war to a close. He sent out word to Sher-i- 
dan, '' When day dawns push round the foe, and 
get to his rear." Two days more our troops were 



142 History of the United States. 

in the streets of RIch-mond. When Lee found 
he could not hold his place, he sent word by the 
wires to Jef-fer-son Da-vis at Rich-mond. Da-vis 
was the man the South had made their chief, and 
he was in church when the news came to him. 
He read these words: '' My lines are cut at three 
points. Rich-mond must be left to night." 

Da-vis left the church, and the news spread at 
once that the town was lost. There was fright on all 
sides, and the streets were soon full of men who knew 
not what to do. The means for flight were small, 
and a poor cart and horse would have brought a 
large sum of gold. The ships were set on fire or 
blown up, and some of the stores of the town were 
in a blaze. Oh, what a night ! All sought to fly, 
but few had means to go. 

The next day some black troops were the first 
to march in the town. This was the real end of the 
war. Gen-er-al Lee did all he could to save his 
men ; but they were so faint with want of food that 
they could not march, and so weak they could not 
hold their guns. So he gave up all at last to Gen- 
er-al Grant, and the whole South had to yield. 

This war had cost the land more than you could 
count in gold and lives. But it had made the slave 
free ; and we know that we shall have the curse of the 
slave trade in our land no more. And it had shown 



The War of North and South. 143 

that the creed of States Rights was not the best one, 
for if we were cut up in parts we would be weak, 
while if we stay as one, we will be strong. Our 
true strength, then, is to hold fast the bond that 
binds all the States, North and South, East and 
West, in one. 

There was great joy, and all gave thanks at the 
North when the news that the war had come to an 
end was borne on the wires. Lin-coln had held 
his course in a firm, brave way. He had said in a 
speech in New York, when he was on his way to 
take his place, '' When the time comes for me to 
speak, I shall then take the ground that I think is 
right — right for the North, for the South, for the 
East, for the West, for all our land." 

And so he had done. The war was a grief to 
him. He said, *' We did not think this war would 
last so long. Both sides read the same Word of 
God, and both pray to Him to aid in a war on 
those who are bound to them by near ties. We 
hope, we pray, that this scourge of war may soon 
pass. But if God wills it should stay till each drop 
of blood drawn by the lash shall be paid with one 
drawn with the sword, it must be said, * Shall not 
the Judge of all the world do right?'" 

Five days from the time that the news of joy 
came in a flash on the wires, Lin-coln was dead. 



144 Histoiy of the United States. 

He had been shot while he sat in his box, at the 
play, by a man of the name of Wilkes Booth. This 
man had by some means got in the box and made 
the door fast. When he had shot Lin-coln, he 
sprang from the box to the stage, but caught his 
foot in one of our flags, and broke his leg. He had 
a horse at the door, and got off; but was at last 
found in a barn, where he stood at bay. They set 
the barn on fire to drive him out ; but he still stood 
his ground, and fought till the last, when he fell, 
shot by one of our men. 

Those who stood by the bed side of Lin-coln 
saw that there was no hope. All the land was full 
of gloom, when the sad news came. As his corpse 
was borne in a train to his old home, the towns 
were hung with black on the whole route, and most 
men wore the badge of grief. Those who had not 
been warm friends of Lin-coln in his life, felt a 
shock at his death, for they knew a brave, true man 
had gone. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



PEACE ONCE MORE. 



At the time of Lin-coln's death, there had been 
a sort of plot to kill more of the head men of the 
land. Sew-ard had been shot in his own house, 
and there was a great fear in Wash-ing-ton ; for no 
one knew how far this plot might reach. 

When An-drew John-son took the place at the 
head of the land, there was some fear that those 
who had spent so long a time in the war would not 
know how to live in time of peace. But they soon 
made their way to their old homes, and were glad 
to lay down their arms and take up the old trades 
once more. There was a vast debt, and all sorts 
of loans to be got. Then there were those who 
thought that the States, which were the cause of 
the war, should not have the right to come back on 
their own terms ; and some thought they could come 
back when they would, and in their own way. 

But John-son brought out a Bill which gave 
back all their rights to most of those who had made 
the war. The States could come back if they would 
say that they would have no more slaves, and that 



146 History of the United States. 

they would be true to the U-nit-ed States in all 
time to come. John-son did not act in a way to 
suit those who had cast their votes for him, and 
Con-gress made a move that he should give up his 
place. When they came to try him, they found 
there was one vote short. That one vote kept him 
in his place ; but he did not get a new term. 

The next man who was the choice of the land 
was U-lys-ses S. Grant, whose work in the war had 
won him such fame. In his time all the States of 
the South came back in to the U-nion. Great 
tracts of land were made ours ; the debt was made 
less ; and there was a law made which said that 
men of all races and hues should have a riorht to 
vote. In his last term a grand show took place in 
Phil-a-del-phia. All the lands in the world sent 
things to be shown tTiere, and all the trades of the 
world had place in those great halls. 

When Hayes came in there was talk that there 
had not been a fair vote for him ; but in time he 
won his way. He was fair to both North and 
South, and his rule was mild but firm. He drew 
all troops out of the South, that those States might 
put their own laws in force, with no help from Wash- 
ing-ton ; so that if their own folks had wrongs, their 
own courts must set the thine ris^ht. 

Time has shown that this course was wise. The 



Peace Once More. 147 

States at the South have grown in peace and good 
will to us since that time, and the white men there 
now seem quite glad to have the black men vote. 
Rail ways have been built so fast that it is thought 
in a few years there w^ill be four or five of these 
great lines through the whole length and breadth 
of the land. Our debt has been paid off at such a 
quick rate that if we go on it will be gone ere long, 
and the tax on all things can be made less. We 
have shown, too, that we have not stood still. 

In old times each watch in use here came from 
the old lands, but now a watch is made here that 
might win the prize from those on that side of the 
sea. So, too, in glass, tools, knives, soap, combs, 
and all sorts of things, we have made a name. The 
beef and grain we send out bring in vast wealth. 

James A. Gar-field was our choice in 1 88 1. A 
great shock was felt in the land, just two months 
from the time he came to the White House, when 
we heard he had been shot while on his way to take 
a train for the North. A man by the name of Gui- 
teau, who had some sort of strange craze, was the 
one who did the black deed. 

, They bore Gar-field at once to his home in the 
White House, and for a long time he lay there in 
great pain. Day by day the news would flash on 
the wires that told his state, how his pulse beat. 



148 History of the United States. 

how he had slept, and what hope there was for his 
hfe. All would seize the news and read it each 
day, with the wish that he might yet live. They 
took him to Long Branch in the hope that the sea 
breeze might help him ; but though his life held 
out for near the space of three months, it came to 
an end, and his last breath was drawn in that sweet 
home by the sea, Sep-tem-ber 19, 1881. Great 
grief was felt at his death, and all lands strove to 
say a kind word. The Court of Eng-land put on 
black for him, and the Queen sent a wreath for his 
grave. Gui-teau was hung for his crime. 

Ches-ter A. Ar-thur is now our Pres-i-dent. 
We are at peace with all the world. The same 
flag, with the old stars and stripes, floats now in 
the South as in the North. Long may it wave, 
'' On the land of the free and the home of the 
brave." 




.;'5 ^„^ 



f t, (^^^ 




